In a way, Blue Material is a band of spiritual indie niche. But, perhaps far more fitting is the metaphor of Reasonings, which, while not quite their best, most aural, or atmospheric work, is in fact very reasonable. From sentence to sound to reasoned ambiance of opener number, “Surrender”, which while not quite the thunder of the first opening three tracks of their debut Blue Material, “Blue Rider”, “Forever The Mirror”, and “Haunted Love”, then it is quite interesting sounding and the themes are great if the techy-rock-opera presented is slightly underwhelming compared to Blue Material’s finishing, “Superstar” or titular “Cosmic Thunder”.
The thought process is still there so going with the titles, such as “This World Can Wait”, closing “Reasonings”, “Country Song” reminiscent of single by Jeffrey Lee Pierce “From Temptation to You” off Wildweed, the “cosmic-strings-sound” of “Meadows” or “Highwire”, touching “Maria”, and lastly but also as importantly noise-wise, nice-sounding, “NWO”, is as “Cosmic Thunder” as anything else;
Thusly, the endless reverberations, which is kind of the only real point of indie rock, unlike Blue Material holding the roots onto “Reasonings”, indie which has become incidental to where it began in earnest with bed room-guitars, keyboards, and ambient sounds bathing any space of the world. Blue Material is like a ‘90s grunge bands aesthetic mixed with true indie of the somber-bedroom-Britpop thing, and so while not unmarred by life or better than the self-titled debut, Blue Material.
Reasonings is markedly still undoubtedly one of the higher notes of indie music’s achievements and ends marking a high note in “Reasonings” with that marketing sax in “NWO’ lingering just as high as the title track “Reasonings”, which is still amazing, and perhaps hoping beyond those Blue Material indie tropes, hope, that it is proof of hopefully just the beginning to Blue Materials Reasonings.
