Stars of The Lid — And Their Refinement of the Decline
As with their last full length Tired sounds of…, this is once more a double album offering near on two hours of musical and sound world to get lost in, coming in a nice fold out dig-pak, which seems more practical for replaying than their standard card case. Though drone craft is still very prevalent here, it seems that the pair's explorations into solo works over the last few years has give their trademark sound more detail and dramatic melodic depth, where Tired sounds.. felt like a watercolour of a rich horizon or seascape where the details are never full defined, this feels more like a detailed oil painting that’s been worked on for hours. We have the use of strings once more, but they also add on more use of guitar drones, piano, horn work, subdued percussion and a children’s choir.
On first inspection of the track listing long time Stars Of The Lid devotees may be disappointed- as there seems to be an awful lot of tracks, which must mean the tracks are shorter then their usual epic constructions - while this is true to a certain extent (most tracks running around the five minute mark) - we have do also have a few longer audio adventures to lose one's self in. But even the shorter tracks still seem perfect given their length. Disk one seems to try and add more surprising and experimental textures to their sound, where disk two for the most part seems to concentrate on longer more drone based construction, with two tracks nearing the 15 minute mark. Also disk two sees them return to using field recordings and found sound in a rather breathtaking manner,to weave in effective and subtle nudges and strokes of sound, which really emphasize the beauty and tranquil lost feeling of the tracks.
Stars of The lid have done it once more: making a album that you’ll want to relive again and again, that will grow with wonder and detail over time, and will become one of your most cherished audio possessions.