We all enjoy moments of clarity, however brief. Instances where solutions present themselves, or a previously obstructed path becomes clear. Our lives are complicated and our perspectives are limited. It's not often that we can obtain a clear line of sight on what to do next, or even what our priorities are from task to task, but when it does happen, it tends to be extraordinary. An uncluttered mind is one that is free from anxiety and dread, allowing the body to maneuver the world with ease and actualize its intent. Texas alternative rock group Narrow Head seems to have reached this point of fluid, uninhibited concurrence between mind and matter on their latest LP, titled (what else) Moments of Clarity. The name of the record is a reference to a series of personal trials and terrible losses experienced by guitarist and vocalist Jacob Duarte in the lead-up to the release of their prior LP, 12th House Rock. Emerging from these hardships, the phrase that now adorns the album, would burst into the purview of Javob's perception like the glow of a neon sign, pointing him forward and through one adversity after another. This perseverance is reflected not only in the very deliberate way that the album was structured and recorded (at two separate studios, no less), but also in the very relationship of Jacob's vocal performance with the rest of the band's. His calm, resolute, and at times resigned, delivery shapes a guiding pathway of lucidity through the murky, driving filaments and actively pulverized structures of a track like "Gearhead," while providing a tempering thread of sanity to the blinding uplift of "Caroline." While it's easy to make comparisons to what Narrow Head has accomplished sonically here to post-hardcore and post-rock pioneers like Hum, Deftones, and Quicksand, it's apparent that the group has arrived at their current sound and level of prowess by following a path that was not precedented by other, but predicated on the belief in the portent of their own ability. They saw the direction this path could lead them, and they forged ahead in actuation of a purposeful and innate drive. Seeing is believing, but it's in doing that we meet our destiny.
