Slow Dancing Society - The Slow and Steady Winter
The Australian music label, Hidden Shoal Recordings, today announced the release of the eagerly awaited sophomore album from US ambient artist Slow Dancing Society.
From the outset The Slow and Steady Winter sets itself up to be an epic. Clocking in at over an hour long and comprising only eight tracks the album paints its majestic landscapes with both measure and purpose unfolding a sound that moves from immersive ambient evocations to beatific bliss rock.
From the opening strains of ‘The Early Stages of Decline’ you are mesmerised. The track draws you into its frozen cinematic expanse as if pulled by a magnet in your stomach. Like an undertow in a frozen ocean the sheer sustain and engagement of this fifteen minute immediately sets The Slow and Steady Winter apart. It acts as a kind of forced slowing down and pays testament to the detailed architecture that shapes this album.
The Slow and Steady Winter is not concerned with singularity but rather the totality of experience. The album is a gorgeously choreographed chronicle of a Spokane winter from the ice covered fields of ‘The Early Stages of Decline’ to the thawed warm edges of spring in ‘February Sun’. The album serves as a wonderful progression from Slow Dancing Society’s previous work both in sound and mood. In part it presents a much darker vision while still radiating an ineffable sense of humanity and heart.
The Slow and Steady Winter is the first part of what is essentially a double album released in two parts over 2007/2008. Slow Dancing Society’s Drew Sullivan explains: “After living in LA, during which time I wrote The Sound of Lights When Dim, I returned to my home town of Spokane, Washington to begin another chapter in my life, a return to innocence in a sense. I wanted to write an album that was inspired by the way I experience this city. From the cold recesses of winter where everything stills to the swirling, rising heat of summer as it fills the city streets. The two part double album will chronicle the movement across the two seasons, with the first release being The Slow and Steady Winter.”
The Slow and Steady Winter is the eagerly anticipated follow up to the critically acclaimed debut album The Sound of Lights When Dim which mesmerised critics and fans alike.
“Slow Dancing Society’s The Sound of Lights When Dim is one of the most beautiful albums I’ve heard in recent days...Despite being magnificently understated, The Sound of Lights When Dim is nothing less than a triumph.” - Textura
The album is now available through the HSR Store and thanks to a newly developed partnership with Amazon the album will also be available through Amazon Mp3. The album will see release through iTunes, eMusic and Rhapsody in mid November.
Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australian-based independent music label with a current catalogue that includes releases slipping between the edges of experimental ambient work, shoegazing pop, post-rock and indie rock. The label has earned a reputation for releasing exciting and engaging new independent music that is not bound by genre or style.
Label Site: http://music.hiddenshoal.com
HSR Store: http://agora.hiddenshoal.com
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
