This 12″ EP “Atomos VII” is the eagerly awaited follow-up to the 2011 self-titled debut of A Winged Victory for the Sullen (core members Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran, usually performing with different guest artists).
When the relatively short opening track from “Digressions” slowly fades into the second track, “Caden Cotard”, an unexpected, jaw-dropping massiveness starts to build – a full orchestral sound that I did not expect to hear on this third Greg Haines album.
It’s not ‘loud’, it’s not ‘noise’ – it’s beautifully restrained, but it’s just…massive.
But then, within the same track, the intensity drops to a much quieter level to become much more intimate.
With this flow of tension and release, “Digressions” somehow compares to a post-rock album, however with a different instrumentation.
Musically, it feels more like it’s a full classical symphony.
“A Winged Victory for the Sullen”, “Sleep Hills of Vicodin Tears”, “Requiem for the Static King” … If titles like that remind you of the Stars of the Lid, you are right. Almost.
For this project, Lid’s Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie teams up with Dustin O’Halloran. No real surprise, since they already worked together on O’Halloran’s latest album (“Lumiere” ).
With the help of some familiar (Peter Broderick, Hildur Gudnadottir) and some less familiar contributors the duo presents “A Winged Victory for the Sullen“ – which will obviously appeal to all Stars of the Lid fans. And a lot more people that probably don’t know this album even exists.
By now, we can safely speak of a “school of composers”, creating neo-classical, romantic, sometimes melancholic chamber music (sometimes with some electronic elements too): people like Max Richter, Johann Johannsson, Sylvain Chauveau and the like.
Music that sounds like the soundtrack of a movie you want to see just because of the soundtrack…
Dustin O’Halloran is no ‘newbie’ in the genre. He wrote the scores for Marie Antoinette (2006) and An American Affair (2010), and has released two “Piano Solos” albums on Bella Union.
With this new release “Lumiere“, Dustin O’Halloran definitely settles firmly between the masters of the genre!
