Band:	Set And Setting
Album:	Reflectionless
Style:	Instrumental, Post-metal
Release date:	January 2017

01. Saudade
02. Axiom Dream Within...
03. ...The Idyllic Realm
04. Incandescent Gleam
05. Specular Wavefront Of...
06. ...The Mirrored Self
07. Eternal Pendulum
08. Ephemerality

Does reviewing a band from your home state mean that your review will probably contain some bias? I'd like to think not, but it's probably inevitable. Let's hop to it, then.

Set And Setting are an instrumental five piece from St. Petersburg, Florida, whose sound can be a bit difficult to label with exact accuracy. With Reflectionless, as with their previous releases, on the surface level this can most easily be called post metal. The music crawls along at a mostly moderate pace reminiscent of some doom and sludge type approaches, and at times things can be quite pleasantly groovy and memorable, especially on the powerful "Saudade" opener. But the trick with Set And Setting that really differentiates them from other bands in their department is their blend of post metal influences with tasty, impressive undercurrents of psychedelia and black metal elements, making them highly enjoyable for their unique take to the genre.

On Reflectionless, you can really see this blend of various influences brought out in full perhaps more than it ever has been before. Moments like those on "Axiom Dream Within..." embrace the post aspect more, being overall more melodic, atmospheric, and meditative. Meanwhile on tracks like "...The Idyllic Realm," or the closing "Ephemerality," you see things getting heavier, likely leaning more towards the underlying sludge influences, and there's more of a heavy embrace of a black metal, tremolo picking type riffing style. As such, the production adapts accordingly, being more crisp and airy during those more atmospheric, relaxing moments, and slightly murkier and crunchier during the heavier moments, and Set And Setting are certainly to be applauded for this strong demonstration of sound flexibility.

If there's anything you could find wrong with Reflectionless, it could possibly be the lack of vocals, but (at least for this listener) this really isn't an issue at all. Since more atmospheric and psychedelic forms of music are usually more about sound and exploring the beauty of instrumentation than a fixation on vocals, an instrumental approach is really almost ideal, and Set And Setting are an excellent demonstration of this idea. Dreamy and ethereal, but with a surprising amount of weight and catchiness at times, Reflectionless is a great album to just fall back in and let absorb you completely, through its impressive blend of relaxing and heavy approaches. A pretty strong release, and one that will quite likely end up being a highlight of the year in the post metal area.

Is your mental state (set) ready? Is your environment (setting) ready? Then go dive in.