and their Refinement of the Decline

by Stars of the Lid

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kenang_11 Just this blissful pool of sound to get lost in - with also one of the moodiest, darkest compositions ever in Tippy's Demise
Favorite track: Tippy's Demise.

keyedupagain Perhaps my favorite Drone/Ambient album of all time. Favorite track: Don't Bother They're Here.

sportskid0809 Some of the most calm, beautiful music ever conceived. Thank you, Brian and Adam, for creating my favorite album ever. RIP Brian, gone but never forgotten. Favorite track: Even If You're Never Awake.

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1.	Dungtitled (in A major) 05:54	buy track
2.	Articulate Silences 05:24	buy track
3.	Articulate Silences part 2 05:37	buy track
4.	The Evil That Never Arrived 05:04	buy track
5.	Preludes (in C sharp major) 03:44	buy track
6.	Don't Bother They're Here 10:10	buy track
7.	Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage 05:54	buy track
8.	Even If You're Never Awake 09:20	buy track
9.	Even (Out) + 04:51	buy track
10.	A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaning(less) Process 04:32	buy track
11.	Another Ballad for Heavy Lids 04:32	buy track
12.	The Daughters of Quiet Mind 13:21	buy track
13.	Hiberner Toujours 01:49	buy track
14.	That Finger on Your Temple is the Barrel of My Raygun 05:04	buy track
15.	Humectez La Mouture 05:31	buy track
16.	Tippy's Demise 08:18	buy track
17.	The Mouthchew 03:40	buy track
18.	December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface 17:45	buy track

about

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 organized sound. They take time itself and stretch, compress and turn it inside out, transforming what would otherwise be an arduous test of nerves into an interlude of half awake dreams that ends too soon.

In this album, SOTL picks up where The Tired Sounds Of… left off with an emphasis on melodic development, moving their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone and subsequently frustrating all the typical ambient cliches associated with their music. Perhaps the best references for this current work would be found in the score to the film "Le Mepris" by Georges Delerue, the orchestral works of Zbigniew Preisner, or the 1958 CSO/ Fritz Reiner recording of Hovhaness’ Mysterious Mountain, specifically the third movement. But in the final analysis, such comparisons are superfluous at best, as Stars of the Lid have created a musical universe in which they are the sole inhabitant.

Simply put, this album is a masterpiece.

A landmark work for both the artist and the label, this was kranky's 100th release and SOTL's most refined example of their unique vision to date.

credits

released April 2, 2007

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Stars of the Lid Brussels, Belgium

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