 |
|
Barn Owl, "Shadowland"
Barn Owl has always been very open-minded in assimilating new influences and this latest EP finds them looking to Alice Coltrane and the more meditative side of the Krautrock canon for inspiration.  While there are some subtle resemblances to Popul Vuh at times, Shadowland still sounds very much like Barn Owl, seamlessly weaving these new threads into a very majestic, haunting, and coherent work.
I did not know what to expect from Barn Owl's latest release, as their last album (Ancestral Star) was a bit of a mixed bag.  It sounded great (being their first release recorded in an actual professional studio), but was too stylistically varied for my taste and rarely allowed the band's better ideas sufficient time to naturally unfold.  It definitely seemed like Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti were at a transitional point and it was not clear whether or not I'd be eager to follow them once their true direction became more apparent.  Fortunately, my trepidation was unnecessary, as Shadowland captures the duo (sans guests this time) doing exactly what they do best: making ominous-sounding drone music.  In fact, this might be the best thing that they've released so far.
Notably, all three of these pieces sound very much like they belong together, largely due to their quasi-sacred and strangely temporally detached feel.  "Void and Devotion" begins the album with an eerie minor key bell-like motif that gradually swells in intensity as throbbing synth drones and simmering guitar noise slowly fade in and then out (equally gradually).  The key elements of that piece continue to be the template for the rest of the EP, but in a coherent and thematically linked way rather than a formulaic one: a somberly beautiful melodic figure endlessly repeats in the foreground while roiling chaos erupts (and slowly subsides) beneath it.  The title piece, for example, is built around a simple chiming, chorus-heavy guitar pattern, while the closing "Infinite Reach" unfolds a ghostly and melancholy synth progression. In all cases, Evan and Jon manage to evoke a timeless cosmic sadness and sense of mystery with only the most minimal and necessary ingredients.
It sounds very simple when it is broken down into its component parts, but it isn’t.  Porras and Caminiti keep things very minimal and ambiguously modal throughout–there is no real melodic progression and notes drone and ring without ever betraying much more than a hint of darkness (which turns out to be just enough).  All of the "narrative" and dynamic heavy lifting is done solely by the swells and rumbles in the periphery, which continually recontextualize the songs' themes to provide a convincing feeling of motion.  That's quite a neat trick if it is done right and Barn Owl pull it off quite nicely here: the various threads all interweave, wax, and wane patiently and organically.  Also, it is extremely difficult to avoid sounding "contemporary" when heavily distorted electric guitars are involved, but Jon and Evan somehow manage to do it.  Shadowland may be brief (23 minutes), but it is a deftly understated, immersive, and thoughtful work with a very definite focus.  I am thoroughly impressed.
Samples:
 
 
