Sontag Shogun – Tale (Luau Records)
CD/DL
Out Now
Brooklyn experimental trio release their debut album.
Before we start, let’s just call this album beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Three years in the making Sontag Shogun have created something so gorgeous
and luscious that it’s a stunning aural delight. Largely instrumental the new album, Tale, uses
grand piano, oscillators and a nepenenoyka
harp (no, me neither), to produce soundscapes that are pitch perfect,
semi-ambient, explorations in a quite stunning sound. To be honest, there have been several times when
I’ve started writing this review but ended up just listening to the album. Again.
Recorded while the trio were based in separate locations around the
world, Tale evokes senses of loneliness in locations that can be interpreted
only by the listener. Maybe a trip with
a crew of a fishing trawler or a solemn walk across bare, misty countryside, the
album’s ability to transport you and transfix you elsewhere is unique.
There will be comparisons to Kate Bush’s 50 Words For Snow, and it’s
completely justified. Timeless, spacious
and the work of genius, it wistfully glides from track to track in an
effortless swirl of breathtaking ease.
The Musk Ox is simply delightful.
Various sound recordings of voices and noises are subtly included
which add to the overall mystique of the album as they seem to serve no logical
purpose but to add texture and character to every one. Hungarian Wheat is stunning and conjures up
memories of Michael Nyman’s soundtrack for The Piano. A track that is jam packed with simplicity.
Heavily influenced by the likes of Philip Glass and Ryuichi
Sakamoto, Sontag Shogun blend both the modern classical with gentle
ambiance. Orbit Insertion takes us into
outer space, whilst Beyond Wynd Gey goes anywhere your imagination will
allow.
There are no boundaries with Tale – “they make music to dream away
to, or from”. A quite exquisite album of
wonderful emptiness.
9.5/10
Links
Published on Louder Than War 18/05/14 - here
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