The popular jam band Explosions in the Sky recently released its new album entitled Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, and much like its title, the album tends to drag on endlessly.

It is an album that, above all else, requires patience and growth. The music is often simplistic and soft. Many of the songs take time, as in several minutes at least, building up to a dramatic climax that is often much softer than one would anticipate.

Although Explosions in the Sky is not known as a particularly aggressive jam band, the passivity of this album is nonetheless striking to any fan.

This does not mean the songs are bad; on the contrary, some of the songs like “Human Qualities” have soothing and intriguing guitar riffs and rhythms, but they are meant more for a late night drive than a party.

Many of the songs are roughly seven minutes or so, and with only six songs on Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, it is a peculiarly short album. Many of the early buildups are also annoyingly long and strained, which will lead many listeners to fast forward through the first few minutes of the song to get to some of the more interesting and integrated instrumentation.

However, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is a much more fluid album than any of its predecessors as the simplistic instrumentation.

Although the album is sometimes too minimalist for its own good, it does provide an opportunity for each song to flow very naturally within itself and into the surrounding songs.

It’s an album driven primarily by two guitars, with a piano thrown in for good measure. Occasionally, the drums will get involved often softly in the climax. Take Care, Take Care, Take Care also tends to feature interesting, if not elongated, synthesizer sounds in the background giving the entire album an eerie atmosphere that the rest of the instrumentation plays soothingly into.

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is not shattering any boundaries, but it is an album that can grow on any listener if he or she has enough patience.