Ancestral Star by Barn Owl
LABEL: Thrill Jockey  |||  RELEASE: November 2, 2010

It’s a difficult thing to make a record that at once originates within one genre while leaping immediately above and outside of it. San Francisco droners Barn Owl have built themselves up from the confines of sludge, doom, ambient, and even shoegaze, to a place of singular vision and no boundaries. Their new album, Ancestral Star, doesn’t fit into a convenient sub-header. It’s just powerful music.

“In a year of powerful musical statements from fusion artists, the album stands strong amongst the best of those, and will be essential for the experimental and drone aficionados.”

One of the issues with the whole doom-noise (doomgaze?) arena is its self-conscious inability (most of the time) to fall back on melody and beauty, typically relying upon brooding darkness and overwhelming sonic assault to achieve its power. Earth and Sunn o))) have been perfecting that sound for years, with Nadja not far behind pushing the sound into awe-inspiring heights.

But Barn Owl has really brought all these elements to fruition in a very individual way, touching it softly with elements from Neurosis-style folk-post-rock and Slowdive’s washy auras. It’s almost the doom/drone answer to Brian Eno’s Music For Airports, and it’s not surprising to see him cited as an influence on the duo. This is the sound House of Low Culture could have been. Luckily, we have Barn Owl.

The restraint on the record is impressive, and Barn Owl don’t bog themselves down with overdubs. True to the instrumental drone form, the production is raw and live, but the band has polished the rough edges a little primarily in the composition of their tracks, resulting in a sound that washes over and consumes you, rather than causing the liberating blunt force trauma of possible contemporaries. The use of clean guitar is refreshingly genuine and well-used, and sounds a bit like Grouper at times, with a darker bent.

Ancestral Star is digested perfectly as a whole. It’s complete, full, and rich form each moment bleeding into the next, making it difficult to pull out its weak points. Certainly, Ancestral Star is a turning point for drone purists while appealing to a wider taste of music. In a year of powerful musical statements from fusion artists, the album stands strong amongst the best of those, and will be essential for the experimental and drone aficionados. And anyone else who just loves beautiful, emotional creation.


REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS
NEIL’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Visions in Dust” • “Flatlands” • “Light from the Mesa”


FREE MP3: “Light from the Mesa” (right-click & save)



[Pre-order the album from Thrill Jockey]

Barn Owl - Light from the Mesa from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.