Destiny Waiving

The third album from Ulrich Schnauss in tandem with Engineers bandmate Mark Peters serves up eight elongated, sumptuous synthgaze/FX’ed guitar instrumentals. Peters’ guitar is prominent throughout, providing creamy smooth leads and sharp little dissonant licks on Speak In Capitals, slick reverse riffs in Clair-Obscur, chiming, ringing chords smothered in delay and vast reverbs in So Far, the Moment and straight-up indie/shoegaze in Hindsight Is 20/20. Schnauss as ever spares no part of the sound field, placing synth washes, modular drones and all sorts of electronic embellishment in all available corners of the mix. Destiny Waiving manages to be ceaselessly bright, light and optimistic even as it happily wallows in seriousness and pomp. At least part of its appeal is Schnauss and Peters’ unashamed commitment to big, sweeping, romantic musical statements, a quality so traditionally uncool that they kind of gain a coolness by sticking to it so dedicatedly.