Adam Wiltzie has had some excellent side-projects in the past, including the Dead Texan and A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Perhaps it’s not really fair to describe those as “side” projects, but there’s no denying that his most influential music has been released alongside the late Brian McBride as part of Stars of the Lid. For those of you that have no idea what any of this is, let me fill you in: Stars of the Lid are arguably the most influential ambient musical act not involving Brian Eno. They were key cogs in the development of a new subgenre of ambient music called “neoclassical ambient” featuring hybrid electronic and orchestral instrumentation along with lengthy, ethereal melodic phrasings. If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, imagine music that captures pensive and deep melancholic emotions through the mesmerizing hum of a pleasant-sounding washing machine. That doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea (incidentally, there is an avant-garde band called Matmos that literally recorded an entire LP with sounds played on a washing machine).
Anyway, Stars of the Lid released several notable ambient albums from 1995-2007. Their final two LPs – The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid and And Their Refinement of the Decline – both of which are double-LPs, are among the most seminal recordings in the history of ambient music. Stars of the Lid (SotL) also were known for their live performances, which, while sparse, were also legendary. I was fortunate enough to see them in Brooklyn back in 2013. They played in a huge cathedral while videos were being projected onto the dome; McBride stood with a bass, electronic gear, and a massive amplifier nearly 50 yards away from Wiltzie, who led a chamber ensemble of string players underneath the dome. This was no doubt the result of careful acoustic pre-planning that – the overall sound was simply stunning. Another performance around that time was captured on video (keep in mind that its resolution is insufficient to fully capture the climactic video projections and musical apex).
With the sad news of McBride’s passing last year, it would’ve seemed as though SotL was officially no more. And yet, Adam Wiltzie’s new album “Eleven Fugues for Sodium Pentothal” has a distinctly SotL-like sound. Whether it’s the result of Wiltzie working with previously-unreleased SotL material or channeling his deceased bandmate through SotL-inspired compositions, the whole thing feels like a requiem for the band, by the band.
The opening track, which bears an inaccessibly lengthy title (“Buried at Westwood Memorial Park, In an Unmarked Grave, To the Left of Walter Matthau”), is the longest, best, and probably the most reminiscent of SotL. It would’ve fit perfectly on any of the four discs comprising the classic two SotL double albums.
Conversely, the album’s last two tracks are least reminiscent of SotL. The penultimate “We Were Vaporised” almost feels like a musical panning-out of SotL’s musical oeuvre, while the album’s closer “(Don’t Go Back to) Boogerville” sounds akin to an ethereal funeral dirge.
Ultimately, this album falls well short of those two SotL seminal records. But it is fantastic – fan-fucking-tastic, indeed. Like a weirdly comforting and somewhat-familiar visitor from one’s past, it harks back to the peaceful, trance-like, melancholic emotional territory that SotL’s previous classics explored so fully. All in all, it seems as though Wiltzie’s goal here wasn’t to reinvent the wheel, or even to establish himself as a solo artist with a new sound. No, his goal was to pay tribute. And he sure as hell accomplished that.
So, to Adam Wiltzie: bravo and thank you for this excellent release! And to Brian McBride: thank you too, for all the music you made; I sincerely hope this music reaches you wherever you are.
deaf-child 
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