a winged victory for the sullen

a winged victory for the sullen ~ s/t (erased tapes/kranky 2011)

"A Winged Victory For the Sullen is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars of the Lid and The Dead Texan member Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin OʼHalloran. The duo agreed to leave their normal home studio comfort zone and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, and to hunt down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies.

...The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic replicating ingemination. In “Requiem for the Static King Part 1″ they have taken the age old idea of a string quartet and then shot it out a cannon to reveal exquisite new levels of mellow bliss. Of the 13 minute track “Symphony Pathétique,” Wiltzie says “after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing”.

Guest musicians include Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir and violinist Peter Broderick. A Winged Victory is not a side project. This is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of." brainwashed/kranky

buy / download