Kyle Bobby Dunn – Ways of Meaning 8.5

                “Ways of Meaning” may be Kyle Bobby Dunn’s springtime album. His last work “A Young Person’s Guide To” felt glacial compared to this work. I like both, but the shorter length and louder volume makes it a bit easier to immediately enjoy. Volume is a relative thing in Kyle’s world. Things never get too loud; his focus on silence is greatly appreciated. 

                How he unfurls his work is great. My childhood was spent listening to various classical pieces, especially slow ones. In church I’d hear the organist play to let us know when to be seated and when peace was upon us. “Statuit” gives me that same warm feeling I got from shaking everyone’s hand after saying “Peace be with you and also with you”. There’s sweetness in the piece, a patience which I don’t often encounter, even within the slow-moving world of drone. 

                This is still quiet music despite the slight increase in loudness. “Canyon Meadows” is the loudest piece on here. I figure it is to give a sense of largeness to the record. When I listened to this, I was watching the shadows grow as the day ended. Perhaps this might be the best way to listen to the song, I’m not sure. 

                “Movement For the Completely Fucked” is the longest track on here, and probably the jewel of the album. The title itself reminds me of Stars of the Lid’s tendency to use jarring titles for their calming pieces. Fifteen minutes go by so blissfully. I think this may be my favorite piece on the album. 

                All of Kyle’s work revolves around patience and longevity. Considering he’s been making music for almost 10 years, that’s pretty impressive. It’s doubly impressive he’s only in his early twenties and has already built up such a large body of work. “Ways of Meaning” may be my favorite release from him so far, so sunny and full of hope.

Among the Bones/Henryspenncer – Split EP 7.1

                 First off, the album art looks fantastic. I know I don’t focus on it a lot, but it usually takes a certain something to get me to pay attention. The art even does a pretty good job of preparing you for the heavy sounds.

                Henryspenncer and Among the Bones sprawl out quite nicely in this split. “The Amazon” comes first. With multiple movements in its 15 minutes, there’s a definite flow to the song. The beginning starts out with a twanging guitar, which increases in size and intensity. 

                Among the Bones appears to take a quieter route. Beginning with a quiet drone and field recordings, it is the more meditative of the two. Due to the quiet, I’m reminded of Stars of the Lid a few times, in their earlier form. It is a lonelier song than “The Amazon” but the bare bones execution works wonders for it. Plus, the extremely slow pace allows the listener to hear every little detail in perfect detail, though I’d strongly urge a good pair of headphones for this one.

                Bookmaker records just started out, but I think they started off strong. Hopefully they’ll be able to continue this level of quality. Get the whole thing here.

Kyle Bobby Dunn – A Young Person’s Guide To 8.4

                A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is what I’m thinking the title references. Since there are so many different instruments being used for the recording, this interpretation might make the most sense. Picking out any instrument (besides the piano, which is pretty distinguishable) can be somewhat difficult, as the sounds are blurred together to create comforting, floating drones.

                There are drones, two hours’ worth of the stuff. Personally, I enjoy it when the artist takes a longer format approach, particularly for the’ lose-yourself-in-it’ stuff like what this offers. Over the course of the two hours, you’re treated to the warmest of drones. How these drones move forward is pretty amazing, he has a certain method to how each piece unfolds so graciously. In fact, picking out a specific movement or dramatic change is impossible, think of watching the clouds float by on a bright sunny day. 

                “Butel” starts off the two-disc set in positively massive fashion: a 17-minute piece where things build up so discretely (even once compared to the other pieces). Immediately you can feel its warmth, and its fragile state. It never gets loud or overwhelming, but slowly gains your attention. “There Is No End To Your Beauty” has a delightful ebb and flow of sound as if it were almost sentient. After this you get “Promenade” which brings up images of Stephan Mathieu’s drone work, it is simply so bright and airy. 

                Disc Two offers its own highlights. “Last Minute Jest” and “Set of Four (Its Meaning Is Deeper Than Its Title Implies)” are gorgeous piano pieces. “The Nightjar” ends things off with a quiet sample repeating ‘looking at yourself’. 

                Maybe there’s something about geography which influences the music one makes. Stars of the Lid had the vast Texas expanse; Kyle grew up in Alberta, pretty similar to Texas’s levels of open space and emptiness. It is always reassuring to have releases this massive, with so much good music to absorb. Personally, I tend to enjoy long-length works when they’re done properly, and Kyle knows exactly the sort of mood he wants.

                Once the music ended, I felt happy. Somehow this music just brightens my day, gives me a more optimistic feel. Think of it as music to comfort you in long winter nights, to have these drones combine with the creaking of your building, of the subtle choir of radiators going off. I absolutely adored this.

William Fowler Collins – Perdition Hill Radio 7.2

William Fowler Collins moved from rural New England to New Mexico, all the while keeping his paranoia intact. Basically Perdition Hill Radio takes an even darker turn towards ominous drone-based music.

Pacing-wise, it works very well. It sounds a lot like a downer version of Stars of the Lid, making me wonder whether or not living in the desert gives you this kind of outlook on sound. Slow, certain, spacious drones fill out each one of these tracks.

The heart of the album is probably the two songs “Dark Country Road” and “On Perdition Hill”. “Dark Country Road” begins innocently enough, with gentle guitar strumming. But what lurks underneath it what makes it so interesting. Slowly that innocence fades away into eternity as a train heads towards you (later to be revisited on the last track). And then things get quiet. 

This gives me hope for dark drone. Perhaps his work with Mesa Ritual might be able to live up to this kind of work.

Hammock –Chasing After Shadows…Living with the Ghosts 7.2

I can’t really think of a more aptly named band. Their music gives off the warm vibes of lying in that free-moving piece of furniture, staring blankly up into space. Clouds move by at a snail’s pace. And the flow from song to song is great. 

They bring up images of a mix between Stars of the Lid and Explosions in the Sky, but with their own personality. Most of their work directly references the quieter parts of Explosions in the Sky without the crescendos, deftly avoiding that part of post-rock. Instead the songs tend to drift away. Occasionally they even hark back to Stars of the Lid type classical arrangements, though those moments are relatively few. 

Basically, this album is better taken in a few doses. For some people a 70 plus minute album of mostly soothing sounds might be a bit much. This is an album which rewards patience. And I’m sorry I missed them when they opened for Stars of the Lid at Le Poisson Rouge. From what I heard, that was a great concert.

Pjusk – Sval 5.4

12k has yet to release a distasteful album. Usually their groups are exercises in restraint, with the focus being on how they can forge new paths in the quiet and subdued.

Following in this sort of template is Pjusk, who employ a minimal dub aesthetic for all of these songs. Monolake has already worked in this sort of sound, and with a bit more energy. Yes, the ambiance is tasteful, yes the sounds are well-picked, but it feels very derivative.

Most of the sounds you hear on the first track are the same you’ll hear throughout the entire album. Plus, there’s little to indicate when the last track ended and the new one began. At some point this transforms into images of Europeans hunched over laptops barely making any motions and refusing anything to us.

This music feels starved. On one hand, it isn’t an intense enough exploration of sound to justify its minimalism (like Stars of the Lid) and on the other hand its failure to have a groove or melody that would make this more palpable (like Monolake) means that the album really drags on. “Skodde” and “Valldal” do a pretty good job of mixing field recordings, ambiance, and brief melodies. However, the rest of it comes together as a gray mass.