Here's one from 2011 that I have just recently starting getting into. This album was the perfect soundtrack to my night drive up the length of Indiana: dark, brooding, a bit creepy (a particularly manic and noisy passage started up right as I was passing through a field of wind turbines -- which, in the darkness, appear as devilish rows of pulsing red orbs -- scary stuff), simultaneously cosmic and earthen. Barn Owl's foreboding, finger-picked intertwining guitars ride on the drifting keyboards in a manner reminiscent of Ash Ra Tempel, and especially Manuel Göttsching's solo stuff. It's drone-y but hardly unexciting; on the contrary, in the right setting this album is positively cerebral. Your assessment of the album art is in this case a pretty good indicator of how you will feel about the music. Barn Owl have put out a slew of albums and EPs since 2007 or so, and what portion of their work I've heard has been consistently good. Highly recommended.
Buy Lost in the Glare on Thrill Jockey
The darkest night since 1683
I hope you weren't driving alone because those wind turbines can be fucking terrifying even without the soundtrack. So I'm listening to this now and it hasn't disappointed at all, though I was pretty much sold by the description. "dark, brooding, a bit creepy"? What isn't there to like about that?
ReplyDeleteAs it happens I was driving alone, and the car was becoming perilously low on gas in the middle of nowhere. I was quite scared. Glad you like this album though, maybe I'll post some more by them in the future.
ReplyDeleteIndiana, wind turbines...sounds like near where I live. Thanks for passing this album along though. I like it!
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