Stars of the Lid

Are there other earthling-conjured soundworks rivaling the majesty of Henry Flynt's minimalist hillbilly fiddle fantasias or the heavens-rending power of Messiaen's works for organ? Undoubtedly, else why bother listening. But the only thing speaking at us right now from these charmed regions are the celestial airs of these Stars of the Lid. Alternately lulling and wielding a potency that wholly escapes 'experimental' musics, SOTL bring big, whomping chunks of sonic firmament with a sustaining, life-affirming sweep. For the most part the latest SOTL missive offers sound sources which refuse to readily reveal themselves. Treated strings, organ or backwards tubular bell runs -- it's simply a sublime chorus of instrument voices, irresistible as the undertow. Also gurgling up in the mix are whimpering pups, shuffling feet, Dictaphone-preserved foreign lecture hall blather, a city bus shouldering to an unsteady stop -- common enough stuff, but rendered here as the sounds of civilization heard distantly, the human receiver filtering everything through a palpable dis-ease that bespeaks a Higher yearning.