Barn Owl - V
Label.........................: Thrill Jockey
Genre.........................: Alternative
StoreDate.....................: Apr-16-2013
Source........................: CDDA
Grabber.......................: Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoding Scheme...............: Lame 3.98.4 V0 VBR Joint-Stereo
Size..........................: 72.81 MB
Total Playing Time............: 41:37
Release Notes:
Though their spectral music specializes in creeping guitar washes and
slow drifts toward oblivion, there was no way for the California duo of
Barn Owl to maintain the pace they once set. Between September 2009 and
September 2011, multi-instrumental conjurers Evan Caminiti and Jon
Porras released four full-length albums, each burrowing deeper into a
mirage of droning desert blues. During that time, they also issued a
brazen, roaring collaborative LP with Ellen Fullman, a composer who
suspends wires in rooms to elicit extreme dynamics and radiating
overtones. Porras and Caminiti stayed busy separately, too, pogoing
between various boutique labels for solo records that pushed their group
aesthetic to distinct extremes. Last year, they kept abreast of those
individual paces, both releasing two fine LPs under their own names. But
in 2012, there was no new Barn Owl material.
The pause began after Lost in the Glare, a move that, in retrospect,
seems like an optimal place for a Barn Owl semicolon. On those eight
tracks, Caminiti and PorrasÆ intertwined guitars reached ideal levels of
intensity and intimacy. On ôTuriyaö, featuring copacetic drummer Jacob
Felix Heule, they let the tones bleed, playing their arid riffs with a
force theyÆd never before managed. On ôLight Echoesö, one of the
prettiest pieces in the wide Barn Owl catalog, they repeated a trickling
guitar line until it stretched into prismatic shimmer. Barn Owl had
gotten very good at being itself.
With Lost in the Glare, they also suggested they wanted to be something
else. Aside from Heule, Barn Owl added bass clarinet, more percussion
and, most presciently, an array of subtle synthesizer textures. So on V,
Barn OwlÆs proper fifth album, Caminiti and Porras return to the duo
format to somewhat reinvent themselves, at least sonically. Though they
both still list guitar as their primary instruments in the liner notes,
the pair spend the bulk of VÆs six tracks exploring keyboard drones,
wide-set digital rhythms, kaleidoscopic synth hues, and barely there
scrims of noise. The sustained electronics of ôBlood Echoö reverberate
as if from the mouth of a cave, with concussive thuds and streaks of
sound suggesting the nascent work of European peers such as the Haxan
Cloak and Raime. ôVoid Reduxö seems like the hypothetical rendering of a
session shared by Vangelis, Conrad Schnitzler, and Ennio Morricone;
alternately, its dub inflections and colorful sprawl recall the more
outer-atmosphere moments of Icon Give Thank, last yearÆs collaboration
between the Congos, Sun Araw, and M. Geddes Gengras. ôAgainst the Nightö
blooms like the best work of Tim Hecker, with sounds that float just
past obvious perception suddenly rupturing into a euphoric rush.
To be clear, this is still Barn Owl. Like the rest of the bandÆs
impressive oeuvre, V works to create expansive spaces of meditative
delight-- drones to get lost in, melodies to slide through, layers to
drift among. TheyÆve simply shifted the order of their compositional
tools, pushing the guitars into supporting roles while using new devices
to build more deliberate and controllable compositions. For instance,
itÆs easy to imagine ôThe Opulent Declineö, the 18-minute electronic
rumination that closes the record, being played largely on guitar, with
its gently daubed melodies picked from six strings rather than routed
through keys and circuits. V is neither less deep space nor more varied
than its predecessors.
V does, however, feel both transitional and incubatory. Barn OwlÆs
guitar-oriented records were fascinating from the start, but that series
only got better toward the finish-- again, see Lost in the Glare. V
isnÆt a sudden restart, but its approaches and techniques arenÆt as
varied or surprising as those of Barn Owl, the almost-guitar duo. But
Barn OwlÆs first round of success came because Porras and Caminiti
worked well and often. They then had the uncommon sense to realize
theyÆd perhaps found at least one of their peaks. V isnÆt a low at all,
but hereÆs hoping it is the beginning of another great trip.
--6.8/10 Pitchfork
Tracklisting
01. Void Redux 6:22
02. The Long Shadow 5:36
03. Against The Night 4:04
04. Blood Echo 5:23
05. Pacific Isolation 2:40
06. The Opulent Decline 17:32
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