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Post rock and prog rock are very different, however they both share an experimental nature. Having gotten used to irregular time signatures through prog rock, I was disappointed to find that the majority of post rock artists tend towards conventional time signatures.

I'm sure it can be argued that this fits into the style and motives of post rock artists, however I was wondering if any post rockers have been known to use irregular time signatures in their work. I'm particularly interested because signatures such as 5 or 7 are often associated with being quirky, technical, or energetic and I've never heard them being used in a more laid back or shoegaze style such as that of post rock.

Are there any examples of post rock songs written in irregular time? I'd be interested in giving them a listen.

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  • "Empress" by the Morningsiders is variously in 5+6=11 with stray bars in 5 or 6. Not sure whether it fits your genre requirements so posting as a comment.
    – Angst
    Commented May 10, 2018 at 20:46
  • @Angst Love the song, but you're right about the genre. This isn't post rock at all! Still great though
    – Aric
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:47
  • Can be linked to musicfans.stackexchange.com/questions/5295/….
    – Bebs
    Commented Jun 19, 2018 at 8:36

2 Answers 2

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I have to scan my library to name more but the best example I can think of right now is:

65daysofstatic - unmake the wild light is 7/8 at something like 326 bpm

Isola - Russia uses various time signatures including 4, 6, and 7.

If These Trees Could Talk - From Roots To Needles has a section in 5

Astronoid - Breathe uses alternate bars of 11 and 12 in the intro and outro (although astronoid is more on the metal side)

Edit

some artists that you might want to check out:

  • Explosions in the Sky
  • God is an Astronaut
  • If These Trees Could Talk
  • Maybeshewill
  • Paint the Sky Red
  • This Will Destroy You
  • Tides From Nebula
  • We Lost the Sea
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  • Yes! This is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for!
    – Aric
    Commented Jun 17, 2018 at 19:44
  • 2
    I'll give them all a listen and edit the answer to add specific songs with irregular signatures
    – Aric
    Commented Jun 18, 2018 at 19:06
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Tori Amos "Datura" It has never been able to be played live. "Amos has never performed the song live due to its complex structure and time signatures which makes it hard to reproduce with a live band" -wiki

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