A Winged Victory For The Sullen - s/t
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Label: Erased Tapes(EU) /Kranky(US)
Year: 2011
Format: CD/LP
A Winged Victory For The Sullen is the new collaboration between Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie (of Stars of The Lid), and their eponymously named debut is the perfect amalgamation of their two distinctive sounds with Wiltzie’s long-drawn orchestral, droning movements of chords and textures to which O’Halloran adds his trademark solemn and truly evocative piano melodies.
Track titles read like stories and listening is one immense experience of both the restrained and the monumental. Pieces flow and ebb and there is a great influence of majestic, breath-taking natural scenes on this highly cinematic composition, fly-by’s of vistas and taking in vast landscapes imagined portrayed as a sequence of timelapses, with Wiltzie’s drones lingering in the background while piano melodies and becoming prominent when O’Halloran’s piano subsides.
The two part Requiem for The Static King combines slow caressing strings that wallow back and forth for the sublime, first part and gradually builds up to be relieved by a second, longer part in which the theme is recurring but O’Halloran’s piano eventually is introduced to add more details to the flowing body of sound Wiltzie has established. Then for both the Minuet For A Cheap Piano Number Two and Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears, the theme shifts to O’Halloran territory with more distinct melodies atop the recurring harmonies.
This seems to be the dynamic of the two in this duo which could both be seen to have lots of common elements, but also bring to the table each their own distinct sounds and the compromises they each make to achieve a new sound together. Wiltzie’s large bodies of droning, sonorous sounds that bleed into each other and form new sounds are carefully administered and there is more movement than in his previous Stars of The Lid works with Brian McBride. Similarly, possibly more noticeable, is how Dustin O’Halloran’s piano is more modest in terms of pace and movement compared to his previous recordings, and how the piano this time seem to adhere as lingering tones suited to Wiltzie’s drones.
Summarily, the duo named themselves loosely after the Samothracean statue of Winged Victory, a figurehead standing on the prow of a ship which in its frozen state captured the atmosphere of movement with its outstretched wings and the tunic draping the body as moving through the air – an aesthetic which also seeps into the work of these two musicians.
The 7-track album is an aural treat from start to finish, personally I was drooling with expectations when I heard of this collaboration, and the duo deliver far above my anticipation and is one of the best recordings of 2011 for yours truly. If you haven’t already, make sure you grab a copy either on Erased Tapes in Europe, or on Kranky in the US.
