And Their Refinement of the Decline
Five years in the making and Kranky's hundredth release: drones with cello, brass, harp and a children's choir.
Stars of the Lid, 2007
- Released
- 2 April 2007
- Studio
- Brussels and Los Angeles
- Label
- Kranky
- Producer
- Adam Wiltzie, Brian McBride
- Length
- 120:32
Recorded, processed and assembled over five years in Brussels and Los Angeles, it came out as a double CD and a three-LP set with different artwork. Kranky's notes cited Georges Delerue's score for Le Mépris, Zbigniew Preisner and the third movement of Hovhaness's Mysterious Mountain as loose reference points. Wiltzie said they finished it because they felt they were finding new sounds. Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage nods to Fulham's ground, whose captain was an American footballer also called Brian McBride, and Don't Bother They're Here uses the melody of Sondheim's Send in the Clowns.
Metacritic scored it 87, the fourth best reviewed album of 2007, level with In Rainbows. Pitchfork gave it 8.6, AllMusic 4.5 of 5, and PopMatters nine out of ten, calling it a unique and important work.
Track listing
- Dungtitled (in A major)5:54
- Articulate Silences, Pt. 15:24
- Articulate Silences, Pt. 25:37
- The Evil That Never Arrived5:05
- Apreludes (In C Sharp Major)3:44
- Don't Bother They're Here10:10
- Dopamine Clouds Over Craven Cottage5:55
- Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxième)9:20
- Even (Out) +4:51
- A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process4:32
- Another Ballad for Heavy Lids4:32
- The Daughters of Quiet Minds13:21
- Hiberner Toujours1:49
- That Finger on Your Temple Is the Barrel of My Raygun5:04
- Humectez La Mouture5:31
- Tippy's Demise8:18
- The Mouthchew3:40
- December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface17:45
Personnel
- Adam Wiltzie composition, recording, production
- Brian McBride composition, recording, production
- Sara Nelson cello
- Alex Waterman cello
- Jeff Rizzy cello
- Boris Gronemberger trumpet
- Daniel Nösig trumpet
- Cédric Manche flugelhorn
- Toine Thys clarinet
- Jesse Sparhawk harp
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Béguinage Children's Choir choir
- Craig McCaffrey contributor
- Luke Savisky contributor
More from Stars of the Lid
The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001)
Sources
- And Their Refinement of the Decline, Wikipedia
- And Their Refinement of the Decline, Bandcamp
- Stars of the Lid: And Their Refinement of the Decline, PopMatters (2007-04-03)
- Stars of the Lid: Brian McBride interview, Alec Hanley Bemis (LA Weekly, 2008) (2008-04-10)
- The State of Dreaming, The Quietus (2016)