Stars Of The Lid
Biography
Once upon a time in east Austin when giants roamed the earth, they also slept. It was told unto us that there were two lost colonists who abducted and appropriated gaseous tones into an orchestration that reminds us all that we exist in a world of strangers, dancing only six feet apart.
Originally formed in Austin, Texas on Christmas day 1992, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride, Stars Of The Lid (one of the most apropos names in all of music) have scratched out quite a niche for themselves in the amorphous world of atmospheric classical music. From their almost-rock beginnings to the almost-classical fugues of recent albums, Stars Of The Lid have excelled at designing subtle, minimalist epics which sound like they're being played on a single multifaceted organic instrument. They offer subtle, endlessly evolving stories about the dynamics of sonic texture, at the same time seeming to offer a picture of pure, unfettered consciousness. Their music is largely beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs. A wise man once described SOTL as "divine classical drones without the tedious intrusion of drums, or vocals."
And after many a moon 2007 saw Stars Of The Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline released into the world, infected with Flemish gale force sorrows, and the sounds of pacific tree frogs lost in a chorus of comforting swampy varied thrush. Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over five years, SOTL once again delivered a massive work filling two compact discs and three vinyl albums, clocking in at over two hours. While most albums of this length would be considered tedious at best, SOTL are arguably the only contemporary composers who can seemingly alter the time-space continuum simply through the playback of their organised sound. It was without a doubt, a masterpiece.
Kranky have taken it upon themselves to release upon the world the vinyl reissue of SOTL's fifth album, Avec Laudenum. Previously released in 1999, and again in 2002 this will be the first vinyl pressing of this album to see worldwide distribution.