Earth
Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I

The open space that looms in the imagination of Dylan Carlson is a twisted highway in the desert, made of ascents to the sky and descents into hell, without rest, yet still for a lifetime, slow change is what the creature Earth does best, a creature based on the infinite extending beyond the (non)limits that belong to it. And the gray-black monolith of Seattle returns in all its magnificence, returns and is changed, again, slowly, it transforms. As it walks, it incorporates a novelty, the cellist Lori Goldston (this lady has also accompanied Mr. David Byrne, just to say) and she makes her presence felt right away. Let’s begin the journey.

First exit on the scorching asphalt of the Seattle/Paradise highway: "Old Black". The old rock is there, remains an essential point, and turns into an inexorable march, slow, narrow, tex-mex counterpoints here and there, a chord, it doesn’t change, actually, it changes slowly, the cello comes in underneath, and softens an already velvety, light sound, absolutely non-drone, then suddenly as if it never changed, the piece turns, the guitar opens up, the cello goes wild, the pace is still at an elephant's step, but now it is in the open sky, looks up and continues the advance until it fades into white noise.

We have arrived at the first stop of the journey, it is midnight evidently, and Carlson's invocation is directed at "Father Midnight", droning country, the cello is heartbreaking, but it is the master here, sometimes it seems off note, never out of place, takes the guitar by the hand, which spins and spins around the same stone for an infinite amount of time, but here too the turning point is around a very long corner, a melancholic and decisive lead guitar arrives, stands out above everything, it makes noise in silence and the cello builds melodic textures that feel good.

The sun is high in the sky after another day of travel "Descent To The Zenith" is pure melancholy, the sun is gray and distant, the guitar melody greets it, the always heavy, always present percussion helps the guitar climb the stairs of sadness and solitude until the arrival of the classical melody, to assist in the ascent, until it melts, disappears into open chords.

A warm winter wind blows, or hell and we are at "Hell's Winter", distant echoes of guitar assaulted by the vibrating strings of the cello, this piece is harsh, it is rustier than the others, less delicate, the reverse sometimes emerges from beneath the melody, and then sound gaps appear on the horizon, maybe they come from the snare drum, but it’s impossible to know, here everything travels together without ever dividing.

"Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I" is THE terminus. It introduces to the arrival a warm bass, that subdues Lori's bow until ready to enter with the guitar to act as a counterpoint, and the cello increases in intensity, they seem like feedback and not the passages of a classical instrument, and in the background looms a Tool-like melody, that comes and goes, it’s a soft-spoken arrival, on tiptoe, the drums enter quietly later, they couldn’t be missing, the piece grows in intensity with exhausting slowness, for this reason, it seems never to grow, it deceives us with a staticity that is not there, until the end, the lights go out, the drones remain, the inquietudes remain, waiting for a new journey, for now we stop here. Waiting.