(01.05.06) It has been five years since the evocative drone sounds of Windy &
Carl have hung suspended at the outer edge of your hearing. Releasing
their new material in a double CD set, Kranky offers two lengthy EPs
that are connected by their themes of memory and loss as well as the
eternal hum of captive drones which haunt their work. The Dream
House circles about ideas of death, loss and dreams while
Dedications to Flea (released last year in a limited run by
works to their recently passed dog, Flea. Both EPs offer the listener
vast opportunities for psychic expansion as the drones and stretched
tones resonate in your cranium.
The Dream House — two tracks: the thirty-minute “The Eternal
Struggle” and the twelve-minute “I Have Been Waiting to Hear Your
Voice” — contains sprawling affairs of limitless drones and slowing
evolving guitar tones. The first six minutes of “The Eternal
Struggle” alone barely exists as anything other than an amorphous
chord. Eventually the guitar floats in as if it has been gently
rocked back and forth by the tide for so long that it has lost all
shape and edge, gliding up onto a blank shoreline like a flat sheen of
oil. After eleven minutes the opening chord has drained away until it
is just an echo in the background while the guitar is layering waves
of sound, trailing harmonic overtones in its wake like the long
fingers of ancient jellyfish. Built as an elegy to the losses we
suffer in our lives, the lengthy introspection inspired by the piece
lifts one’s melancholy into a space of reconciliation and hopefulness.
Buoyed by the endless waves of sound, you feel supported and raised
up towards a luminous center. You feel like the struggle may not be
futile or endless and that, in the end, we all see again those we love
and have lost. “The Eternal Struggle” is a piece meant for letting go
and realizing the echoes of our lives are always there.
The second part of The Dream House is the tribute to Windy’s
mother: “I Have Been Waiting To Hear Your Voice.” While the pellucid
tones color the background, an evocative melody is bent out of worn
guitar strings. The melody chases a hint of counterpoint (flute-like
in its resonance) like two fuzzy will o’ wisps dancing across a field
of blurred flowers. Resembling a filmscape left out of focus for
stylistic reasons, this track pushes you to internal reflection where
your memories are more vivid, more distinct and comforting than the
empty reality. Like “The Eternal Struggle,” we are blissed with
memory which can be triggered by the barest hint of sound and, in
which, waves of emotion are wordless and structureless. You just feel
them swallow you up and keep you safe.
The second half is their tribute to Flea, their sweet dog who recently
passed from old age. “Ode To A Dog” is filled with the hint of sound
effects as if someone left the dog in the studio while they were
recording these endlessly looping melodies and you can hear him
snuffling around in the waste-bin and chewing on the cables. “Sketch
For Flea” has a more overt reminder of the dog as it is filled with a
field recording of a walk with the dog, listening to him breathe and
pant and slobber as he trots along. The music which wafts in behind
the dog noises seems almost superfluous to the recording of the
favorite animal but, like “Ode To A Dog,” there is always music in the
air when you are with those you love, or even when you are dreaming
about them.
The Dream House/Dedications To Flea is out now on Kranky.
