southern records

Peering through the catacombs that encompass Southern's vast back catalogue, I found myself drawn to the sizable space occupied by US label, Kranky. I was originally introduced to the label through the incredible post-rock/ drone-act Labradford. As my love for simple resonance grew I uncovered the mastery of Adam Wiltzie and Brain McBride, in the form of Stars Of The Lid Fourteen years after Labradford's bench-mark drone album Prazision, Stars Of The Lid released the next stage in drone-bliss entitled And Their Refinement Of The Decline.

Beauty is a term fickle and loose, often overused in artistic appreciation, as is masterpiece. However, these terms conjure in one's mind when experiencing the seemingly infinite musical space forged by SOTL. Dismissing the obvious and overused, meditating one's attention to pure sound, one then feels that words in-turn, melt replaced by emotions via resonance. The tonality of this double album alters the patterns of breathing and guides the mind, with soft hands, into a place of comfort. SOTL seem to have tapped into the very foundations of psychological easement through vibrations. Not since Harry Oldfield's crystal recordings for Current 93, have I been so affected by simply sound.

The instruments included throughout most of the pieces comprise of Violoncelle, trumpet, flugelhorn, clarinet, harp, with the added delights of Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Beguinage Children's Choir. Processed with guitar, electronics, and field recordings, SOTL blend a minimal swell and recline composition technique to create their trademark "evaporating" sound. Influences can be heard from Arvo Part, La Monte Young, Pandit Pran Nath, and even Holst. The use of modern-classical, raga-styled cyclical tonality and electronic flux, fuse under the playful orchestration of this US duo.

Stars Of The Lid create a mixture of ambient drones and classical compositions, sounding like jets of melody flung across space from distant gas-giants. They formed back in 1992 on Christmas day in Austin, Texas. They have six records available from Kranky and distributed through Southern. Their sound has grown considerably to maintain a strong identity that separates them from modern classical, post rock and drone genres. It is their quest to mould the most hypnotic sounds that drew me to them. And Their Refinement Of The Decline was my favourite album of last year and ranks high in my all-time greats list.

This is music for thinking, writing, sleeping, breathing, walking or anything else for that matter! It will appeal to fans of, Machinefabriek, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Arve Henriksen, Tim Hecker and Bobby Beausoleil.

'And Their Refinement Of The Decline' is available to buy from the Southern Webshop

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