Kevin Bronson on August 17th, 2012

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El Ten Eleven exist in rarified air. Two guys, so technically proficient they sound like four, or five, or six. Two guys, so adept at instrumental music (call it post-rock, experimental, whatever) they create a language of their own. Two guys, so surprising onstage it’s borderline spectacle. Guitarist/bassist Kristian Dunn (he of the double-neck weapon) and drummer Tim Fogarty return Nov. 6 with their fifth album, “Transitions,” a seven-song, 36-minute excursion they say reflects some radical recent life changes. Hearing their “single” “Thanks Bill” almost feels out of context, because the album’s labryrinthine journey involves so many tempo changes, textures and subtle emotional shifts. As they have so many times before – especially on 2008’s “These Promises Are Being Videotaped” and 2010’s “It’s Still Like a Secret” – Dunn and Fogarty make music for the cinema of the mind. Turn your inner camera on.

||| Stream: “Thanks Bill”

||| Live: El Ten Eleven performs Nov. 15 at the Echo.