Pillars and Tongues on Endless Nest Records

Pillar and Tongues are a three piece out of Chicago making expansive, spiritual droning orchestral pieces which feature Mark Trecka's cavernous vocals, which become the focus of the record. It's almost about someone who has this kind of control over his vocal ability, and can transform a lyric from just a vehicle for communication into a compelling instrument.

It shouldn't surprise me when a band like this makes the focus of their work the exploration of something that can too easily be taken for granted in music composition, but when Pillars and Tongues deliver it in this subtle way it sneaks up on you and suddenly seems obvious. There's still infinite possibilities for this most basic instrument before even banging on something outside that cave, we've been continually innovating the sound and use of the voice since the very first compositions. Evan has a deep Peter Murphy type voice, with an authoritative, blues style seriousness of Mark Lennegan. Sort of like that demo album, the recordings Wai Notes between Will Oldham and Dawn McCarthy for The Letting Go, recorded in Iceland, somehow perfectly representing that geography in spirit.

Pillars and Tongues then utilize minimal accompaniment, the three members are working with a bare bones structure from violin and bass which end up a lot of times being bowed in an imperceptibly endless way, resulting in one long, deep foundation to lay Evan's dense prose on this meditative album, The Pass and Crossings. There's a big churchy reverb to everything to give it that expansive feel, it belongs in this huge space, it easily fills that kind of area.

The A-Side begins with an expansive piece, "A Dance in The Billowing Absence", just strings and organ, the violin wavering in a deliberately unsettling way, conveying this kind of a breakdown, giving you an idea that this isn't going to be conventional classically delivered instrumentation. They are creating contemporary dirges between the harmonies of the stringed instruments. The pairing of Elizabeth Remis' violin with Evan's works throughout the album in the same huge frequency and range of expression, they are equals working in different ways.

They continue to explore melodies that range from slowly shifting drones to middle east inspired arrangements on the next track "Palms to Tell". While the instrumentation takes it's time, lyrically Evan is piling up all kind of abstractions seemingly dealing with the deepest primal emotions of love and death. There's religious references throughout to votives, pilgrims and virgins with children. Surprisingly, it doesn't ever feel dark, there isn't an ounce of gothic's foreboding or morbidity, they're dealing with these heavy subjects in something of a hymn to a higher powr. By the last track on the the A-Side they even start to introduce more tribal percussion rhythms moving clearly from an introspective personal place to maybe an outward celebratory feel, probably evident by the title of this one, "Thank you, Oaky".

The B-Side opens with "Oaky (Doting)" and I'm starting to put this entire album together as a conceptual album about a spiritual journey, where as the previous track, the narrator was praising this Oaky character, in this one another voice is condemning his following, and we're back to the bare minimal layering of strings in rising and falling mantra's. Introducing doubt. "The Making Graceful" picks things up again with a complex primal rhythm, the vocal and violin mixed closely together, the beat taking over the middle of the B-side and the violin here even sounding hopeful, optimistic. This side ends with "Decadent Crossing", bringing the somber tone of the opening full circle, this time Evan's vocal is echoing sentiment from a distance, another character chiming in from another plane, a far off echo on the vocal, this could be some kind of end/beginning transformation 'crossing' and these are just the kind of heavy themes Pillars are going for, trying to elevate self expression into something bigger than yourself.

Pillars and Tongues extend their tracks into hymns that stretch out for seemingly endless periods of time across both sides of this full length LP from Empty Cellar Records a hugely celebratory mantra about this abstract spiritual journey but for the human voice.

Track listing:
1. A Dance In The Billowing Absence
2. The Palms to Tell
3. Thank You, Oaky
4. Oaky (Doting)
5. The Making Graceful
6. Decadent Crossing


http://pillarsandtongues.tumblr.com/
http://pillarsandtongues.bandcamp.com/

Go pick up this full length record with great newsprint poster with reverse liner notes from Empty Cellar Records. Completely related to another on from Empty Cellar, The Sandwitches and Will Oldham's massive catalog.

Sonny and the Sunsets on Empty Cellar Records

The Endless Nest Collective recording division, Empty Cellar Records has teamed up again with Sonny Smith alongside his massive, amazing 100 7" records project, of which these tracks are sort of an extension of that project...a novel Sonny had started broke into 100 pieces and these songs were assembled from some of the pieces. All I keep thinking about Sonny is, what do you do next? You came up with 100 fictional bands singles, recorded the music, came up with, comissioned the sleeves and then played them in a custom jukebox for the gallery show? How do you top the yearlong effort of something like that?
Releasing yet another single on Empty Cellar is a pretty good start. His single fever obviously hasn't been cured yet, and Sonny had enough material for a 4 track EP, collaborating with Heidi and Grace of the Sandwitches and a fictional band (?) the Transients, Sonny presents these 4 tracks which were inspired by a near death experience in the ocean.
This could be super downer serious gloomy acoustic, but Sonny sounds like he's taken the opposite approach and is optimistically appreciating each minute he's still playing and recording.

Sonny even created his last will and testament in song form with the first track on the A-Side "Throw my ashes from the pier". This song is full of that warm tight delay, especially in the vocals, that classic country, bluegrass rock sound that I love from hearing early, early Elvis tracks....like Blue Moon...I know, Elvis, it's a ridiculous reference, but there's still something to hearing those raw demos of the early years.
I understood why people called reverb wet. You can almost hear a 'drip' sound in the spring echo when the strings are a little muted and your strumming high on the fretboard.
Sonny's coming to terms with what to do when the bucket gets kicked, and ending up scattered around in the ocean sounds pretty good. You don't want to get morbid about it, but why not on a high note, at the end of the best possible day. But why even paraphrase...Sonny gets this across in a much better way.
"Through the fog and haze" is a slow trip back down to that ocean again. He's just a great songwriter...and to naturally get this introspective feel across takes a lot of commitment. The instrumentation is so minimal, he He's determined to make something good out of that experience and I can't help but read into every word of each track:

Oh to behold such sorrow
To behold such pain
Will I never see the sun

But like Will Oldham he makes it sound so damn nice, you don't even notice the sadness creeping up. The best is how Sonny chose to keep these subtleties... the raw twang of an acoustic mispick, that imperfections that made it through for the sake of capturing the best take without cutting and pasting. But there's more than just a strong Oldham connection in the melancholy and tragedy, Will's brother, Paul mastered these tracks for Sonny.

"Cathedral in the desert" over on the B-Side has Sunny possibly thinking about a higher power's role in existence, with an upbeat track of shiny steel acoustic.
"Take a hard look down that long corridor" finds Sonny way offshore and this has to be it, the big 7" in the sky, reevaluate your life pretty quick...it's the saddest sentiment and I really hope I don't even have a moment to realize it's the end and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't catch yourself singing along with this one.
Sonny taught me to be glad I'm on dry land next to a record player.

I think deliberately every track changes slightly in tone, a whole different character...a new narrator with the help of subtle effects, engineering changes. Sonny's vocals go from doubled up reverb to clear, close mic'd, almost cracking vocals. I think his 100 records project has inherently always been in him, in every song he writes, putting himself into an experience with his specific point of view, and musically it's restrained and as classy as any past and contemporary country legend I can think of.

This one is available from Empty Cellar Records who says:

Not long ago, Sonny Smith (Sonny & The Sunsets) survived a near-drowning off the coast of northern california. The experience affected him profoundly and led to a wealth of output including a play, a novel, and a stack of songs. Sonny's critically acclaimed "100 Records" project is itself a direct product of Sonny's fight with the sea. A novel he began, "Adelard the Drowned", broke into 100 pieces. Four of those pieces come as songs on this 7" e.p., each bound to the next by a twisted braid of water and death. Through the fog and the haze, however, there lies in these songs a shared sense of redemption, transformation, or reawakening. Featuring appearances by Heidi and Grace of the The Sandwitches and a long-lost band called The Transients, this record features Sonny's songwriting at its strongest, staring death in the face. Perhaps, this is in part why the ocean gave him back. Recorded in San Francisco and mastered by Paul Oldham, each record includes a comic book, four full-color album covers, and a high-quality digital drownload.

More of Sonny's acoustic instrumentalism and a sample of the sad, personal comic, (the best kind) that comes with the single is available here:



It's another great extra level to the work and I've really never seen it work so well together.

Arvel from Empty Cellar Records Interview part 2.

It's another Friday and finally you can hear part two of my conversation with Arvel from Empty Cellar Records. (20min, 18mb).
They have tons of great stuff planned for upcoming release, as well as their currently available Dry Spells LP.
Arvel talks about the operating philosophy of the label, making it as a self sustaining not for profit outlet for curated music. Some of his experiences dealing with pressing plants and examples of other labels that inspire Empty Cellar.
The guy is a wealth of information and passion for music....really just the best...can't wait to see what they come out with next.

Interview with Arvel from Empty Cellar Records

As promised here's an interview I did with Arvel from Empty Cellar Records...Part 1. Episode 60. 27min. Immediately after part one you can hear the Joseph Childress side of the 7" single.
We talked about how The Endless Nest collective started, what Empty Cellar has been up to so far, the recording process with the Joseph Childress and The White White Quilt single, and what releases they have coming up.
Arvel started out booking shows, including The Indian Summer Music Festival and working with people like Wymond Miles from The Fresh and Onlys who had a studio and another friend The American Opry who documented the festival and finally they decided to take all these elements and put them together under one roof and start a label.
This all came together around 5 months ago, with the help of all the members of the label and collective and has been quickly gaining momentum with releases like the sold out Tim Cohen of the Fresh and Onlys solo album and The Dry Spells.
Empty Cellar loves the vinyl and has collaborated with other labels in making sure these pressed. I love what they have done so far, and what they are trying to do as a self contained collective to release music they believe in.
They have an upcoming EP release from The Sandwitches, Heidi Alexander and Grace Cooper who sang on the Fresh and Onlys records, and have a repress already planned for the Tim Cohen record as well, so email the label to reserve one of the second (and last) pressings.
Amazing things are afoot in California, from the empty watertowers down to the handcrafted labels. Go pick up the single or their full length releases at their store.

Joseph Childress and The White White Quilt split 'tower' 7" on Empty Cellar records

Endless Nest is the Artist collective consisting of 4 entities, a recording studio, a field recordist, show organizing and the label called Empty Cellar records. Arvel contacted me about his latest release from Empty Cellar and I actually ended up recording an interview with him which I'll post tomorrow but in the meantime here's some thoughts on their latest seven inch release.

This split, the first 7" for the label, is with The White White Quilt and Joseph Childress, I didn't know anything about either of these two before hearing this but the opening few seconds of Joseph Childress' side are so powerful, it's all I needed to be convinced. The countdown to a beautiful echoed acoustic guitar melody immediately punctuated by this huge booming percussion sound which apparently was members of the White White Quilt hitting the inside of this metal tower. It's an amazing unique sound that has so much to do with the space and story that went into recording this single. I was hooked the second I read the story behind it. It seems Joseph Childress is that classic fast disappearing vagabond American storyteller. He can pull off this heartwrenching confessional songwriting style, like the greats of the genre. It's even more impressive this is a live recording, his performance is just amazing. Like Jason Molina and Songs:Ohia, it's hard to listen to almost, I don't necessarily want to go there tonight, but once it starts I'm in the silo not making a sound, not moving so I don't break the spell.

The White White Quilt on the other side is equally matched to Childress's intimacy. The reverb on these tracks from the water tower/silo is incredible, there's just no way to authentically replicate this soundspace...and then to put it on vinyl? It's a piece of perfection. The acoustic melody reverberates around the space, while both members of the White White Quilt harmonizing in almost a deep whisper. It's a slow, sleepy track, with a hesitating fingerpicked melody that breathes so much space around it, the noises around you become a part of the track, a jackhammer in the distance, a crow....it lends itself that Cage thing of everything becoming a part of the experience.
The bonus digital track from the White White Quilt, 'Fire Cup' is an even more epic minimal acoustic track, complete with metal creaking and even larger pauses between notes. This has to be the result of sitting down to record this at the tower...this song has to be different played live, at a bar....anywhere else. It sounds exactly like the cold empty night.

Arvel explained about the bonus track further in an email:
They actually were kicked out of the water tower for trespassing. The WWQ brought a generator to the second session to lengthen the playing time and that's what alerted the world to their presence in the tower. The bonus WWQ track on the download is from that second session.

According to Endless Nest, The White White Quilt has since disbanded but both members are off on their own solo projects. Martin Salata is working on the Like Circles and Alexander James on The Quilt. So this might be the only recording of the group committed to vinyl unfortunately, but it's a monument.

Amazingly captured by the field recording member of Endless Nest, The American Opry, he deserves all the credit for getting these intimate live moments down on tape (?)...whatever he used, whatever mics, it's an achievement. To think of these two bands in the middle of nowhere, playing these two amazing tracks to no one but themselves in the middle of the night, choreographing the percussion performance inside that space...it's the saddest thing I can think of. It's genius to record here and adds immeasurably to the ambiance of the recording.

Get your heart broken at the Endless Nest store.