A true mark of maturity for any band is the ability to abandon its musical baggage, renouncing all that is superfluous in sound. Just as an effective writer must learn the art of Occam’s Razor, Windsor for the Derby has modeled its career off of the “less-is-more” mentality - a trademark for most post-rock bands in its league. After a year and a half of studio drudgery, How We Lost is the product of laborious effort resulting in a lightweight album that passes you by just as easily as it comes.

Like a wholesome morning breakfast, the band’s carefree sound fills you up without weighing you down. Cloud-like guitar formations slowly take shape as subdued vocals occasionally burst into melodious, heavenly choir. “Hold On” invites a strong sense of shoegaze, with a nod to My Bloody Valentine’s amorphous guitar textures. Unlike the band's sonically more aggressive Texan counterparts, Explosions in the Sky, Windsor for the Derby utilizes the entire album as a canvas for one continuous crescendo, as tracks flow seamlessly into one another in one sweeping moment. The cryptic “Troubles” features meandering layers of slide guitars that segue into a vortex of screaming reverb before reverting back to familiar sonic ground.

Shining through mid-album like a calm in the storm, “Forgotten” embraces the plight of the loner, reminding us that on our own, we can face our deceptions, but that “Together, there’s no truth/ Together we’re bad liars.” In hindsight, loss is never what it seems… in this case, the band’s loss is our gain.

Ryan Monahan