VILLAGES

Ross Gentry returns to Bathetic under his Villages moniker to present his sophomore LP, Procession Acts. Procession Acts carries on Villages’ debut LP’s grand expanse of ambient glory, while carrying the sound to a heightened level. Procession Acts comes across as much more cinematic. It is a denser record, more precise in its attack and its immersion. Procession Acts moves along at a steady pace, while streaking the room with beauty. It’s a rhythmic, pulsing, thumping, ticking record, that moves the listener as it moves itself, trudging through an environment it creates itself from blended tones, chiming piano notes, smeared guitars. While the tremendous space of this record is gorgeous and floating, there is a pure driving energy to it. This is not background music. This is soundtrack more than soundscape. It’s a beautiful record that shows an even more cunning Gentry, capable of creating the more alluring and endearing scores for the heaviest moments of life.