a r t i s t : Reigns
t i t l e : Styne Vallis
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Jonson Family
c a t : jfr022
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Nov/2006
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 55,7 MB
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"A sulphurous, blue-grey miasma hangs heavy over this spoiled
reservoir as if the air itself is attempting to solidify to
hold the water down. Within it, like spirits trapped in aspic,
hover a million flies drawn by the stench of stagnation. If
you could see through the fug, through the gelatinous surface
of the water and through the shifting green murk, you would
see houses, all the dwellings of a forgotten village,
pathetically huddled together on the reservoir bed. A thousand
silent corridors, landings and hallways, all lost in the
gradual act of flaking away.
To the north, the Rectory, its trellises black with kelp. To
the west, the war memorial, the names of the fallen devoured
by the creeping slime. Now, to the south, the chapel and its
new congregation, a thrashing, knotted snarl of eels. Above
them, a rusted bell will occasionally slump to one side,
emitting a reluctant clank. And somewhere, a page from a
sodden calendar comes loose and floats up towards the surface.
This is Styne Vallis. This is where the trail begins..."
boomkat:
Concept albums are back in fashion - it's official! I've been
waiting for this moment, I really have, the moment when I can
sit listening to an album and actually be drawn into the
mythos surrounding it, get absorbed by the story and sink into
the music itself. Reigns have now joined the ranks with this
follow-up to their utterly mind-blowing 'We Lowered a
Microphone to the Ground' album a couple of years back and
have not only written a story to go along with the record but
have created an entire village. The album is based on the
legend of Styne Vallis a town which according to the booklet
was flooded in 1970 to make way for a reservoir. Unfortunately
for the council the reservoir could never be purified though,
as the water would repeatedly go putrid as soon as it was
filtered, which had something to do with the town's horrible
reputation for crime and incest. Reading further the booklet
reveals oddities discovered on the banks of the reservoir
which shed more light on the town's peculiar lore, and it
doesn't stop here either - the band has posted Myspace blogs
detailing in great depth the explorations into a neighbouring
town. The whole story has a distinctly Lovecraftian feel to
it, even down to booklet's final quotation - 'And when the
waters do at last then drain, then the dead shall die again'
which is surely a skit on Lovecraft's 'That is not dead which
can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.'.
The album itself disappointingly doesn't get anywhere near as
waterlogged and macabre as the story itself, but Reigns know
exactly what they're doing and they've put together yet
another gorgeous selection of post-post-rock experiments
punctuated by field recordings (apparently recorded at Styne
Vallisà).
Using delicate elements of electronica, guitars and folk
instrumentation the duo have pieced together an album which is
at it's core intrinsically English. The story, the themes, and
the music itself all gorge themselves on England and the mists
of the gloriously mysterious English countryside. This is
paganism, warm tea, a ticking grandfather clock in a local
pub, a bacon sandwich with brown sauce and a frilly tablecloth
all set to beautiful music. Surely one of the most 'complete'
albums I've come across this year, and a perfect winter
accompaniment to Xela's similarly Lovecraft influenced 'The
Dead Sea'. Highly recommended.
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01-The Lost Black Mass Footage [05:22]
02-Afloat, Fly Blown [03:33]
03-Volcanoes of Taiwan [04:08]
04-The Three Pockets [03:01]
05-Wedding of Weed and Dead Weed [04:09]
06-Chambers [03:59]
07-Revised Map of the British Isles [03:06]
08-Spore Regent [04:47]
09-Divorcee [03:53]
10-Silver Eels of Styne [03:46]
11-Rising of the Spire [04:30]
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44:14 min