Hailing from Minnesota, Celestiial were originally a one man project from Tanner R. Anderson who released debut album ‘Desolate North’ back in 2006 and have also collaborated on a split recording with label mates Blood Of The Black Owl. Now they have expanded into a trio including bassist Jason Walton, who among others has also been involved in Agalloch and Subterranean Masquerade. Musically it is quickly evident that they are very much inspired by nature as the first track here ‘Spell Over Still Water’ has field recordings of birdsong and (well) water after it has dished out some unsettling acerbic noise.
The water theme can be heard behind the albums central second number ‘Great Storms Carry My Sadness.’ It is there in the background and in a way it is slightly distracting as it sounds like the sort of quiet hiss you used to get listening to stuff on cassette to my ears. At the forefront of the number, which I should hasten to add clocks in at a whopping 30 minutes we have a repetitively slow and mesmerising exercise of funeral doom. This basically concentrates on a slow drum rhythm, occasional howling vocals, again slowly coursing out the speakers and mad droning pulse like guitars and bass. This and the similar 17 minute ‘Offering In Cedar Smoke’ form the backbone of the album. There are moments where you may hear the call of an owl thrown into the mix but I have to say that unless you really have a huge amount of patience you may well find this a pretentious and highly boring experience. I, now on third listen am stuck somewhere on the fence personally, I do partly consider it just so but also find myself drawn to it, perhaps like a moth to a flame. It becomes a bit of a challenge even, and I feel that I must get to the end of the number rather than give into temptation and forward or stop it. The field recordings and slower pulse with the water running heightened in the mix at the mammoth track’s 13 minute mark do actually come as a relief but after a few minutes, a rumble of thunder and a throaty roar, the repetitive strains of the music are back into action to drag you along for the remainder of the ride.
Having been somewhat negative, the positive side of things are perhaps down to the listener’s imagination. I can almost envisage this as being like a primeval origin of the species. The droning slow tumult, creation itself as life of animal and plant come into form, perhaps as some type of musical Darwinism. ‘From Elm Blossoms A Rose’ is a beautiful interlude between the two main tracks. It’s a gorgeous piece of acoustic playing that if anything sounds a bit like a musical box with water running and birds tweeting around it.
So this could be considered a bit of an endurance test but then again it is an interesting one. It also is pretty good background music that you can have on whilst not particularly focusing on it. I would have to be in the right mood to listen to it again and am not entirely sure what that exact mood might be. One thing I will say is do not attempt to listen to with a full bladder, all those watery sounds will get you in the end. Oh Celestiial also shun Internet presence too, so any interest in them is via their record label.
http://www.myspace.com/bindrunerecordings
http://www.bindrunerecordings.com
