It's probably no coincidence that the cover of Early Day Miners' fourth album, All Harm Ends Here, depicts a verdant, upward-reaching patch of forest against a big open sky. The Miners' style of cozy, indolent slow-core is like a person who never gets out of bed: Lost in far-reaching escape dreams, but utterly trapped. Where all harm ends, so do schedules, responsibility, and ambition. Unburdened, the Early Day Miners' trot is a slow one. They seem neither overjoyed nor panicked by their self-imposed isolation; rather, their music reeks of a panging, misanthropic bereavement.
"Errance" is the getaway anthem. The song is moody and weighed down but not indolent: Propelled by a polyrhythmic drumbeat, it reveals emo-core and math-rock leanings. Early Day Miners' cushy three-guitar front line-- best employed here-- recalls the towering, interwoven melodies of Juno. "Townes" unfurls lazily, with a big, weepy, open sound that brings to mind My Morning Jacket or Songs: Ohia. But by and large, Early Day Miners prefer a spacier, more atmospheric style of slow-core, far removed from the melodrama of bands like Low or Red House Painters. Dan Burton doesn't yowl or weep; rather, he sings as if he may have been told to hush a lot as a child.
A bit of exaggeration might help: The band often seem bored by their own efforts. For all its droopiness, All Harm Ends Here doesn't engage sadness but toils obliviously in it like a three-week beard. "The Union Trade" takes a jittery odd-time frame and renders it comatose. "Comfort/Guilt", despite a peppier, shaker-drawn beat, is underpinned by a fusty synth drone, which jives awkwardly with the band's organic mantra. "All Harm", the quasi-title track, fares much batter, featuring a crocheted guitar melody, bright and beautiful for its well-drawn opaqueness.
As deftly as Early Day Miners work their craft, the slow-core aesthetic is still pegged in an outmoded, mid-90s frame of mind. All Harm Ends Here is hushed and apocryphal, but at times it sounds almost as half-hearted as it is heavy-hearted. The album also pits a nagging inclination to move forward against ruthlessly maintained simplicity. Unfortunately, Early Day Miners choose the comfort of stasis, where their music quickly grows an uneventful wash: How are we supposed to stay engaged when the band act like their own rope has run out?
