Gazelle(s)

Moving on to Post-Rock

Sure, rock and roll never died. Meanwhile, post-rock is enjoying a rebirth. 

The Northwest Post-Rock Collective, an online group of several hundred musicians, bookers, sound engineers and fans, has organized a group tour of bands from Seattle, Portland, Eugene and San Francisco to introduce fans to the different styles within the genre. 

“This feels like a resurgence of interest in this type of music,” says Michelle Whitlock, who plays electric violin in Eugene’s Gazelle(s). “There are a lot of bands like ours in the Northwest area, but this is our first-ever tour together and we’re really trying to make it into a scene.”

All of the music is instrumental, but Whitlock describes differences through tonality, atmospheric soundscapes, progressive-rock experimentation and classical, emotional polyphony. Gazelle(s), she says, “is more melodic than most,” but since the release of last year’s album There’s No One New Around You, the band has taken on a “harder, doom-sounding, almost metal” approach, keeping elements from their earlier work but also exploring more of the “beauty and serendipity in the violin.” 

In Portland, NWPC has put on a series of events and festivals, including a 15-band blowout earlier this year.

The Eugene post-rock scene, Whitlock says, is “pretty tight, with a lot of musicians working on several projects together, playing in each other’s bands. It is natural to have this community as an offshoot to spread and support and promote post-rock.”

Gazelle(s) plays with Wander, Long Hallways and You May Die in the Desert 9:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 17, at Hi-Fi Music Hall; $7, 21+.