Constellations by The Picturesque Episodes
LABEL: Wise Owl Records

A swirling, cinematic journey through textured post-rock and cosmic-rock soundscapes, Constellations perfectly captures that blend of introspection and instrumentation so many artists struggle to get just right. It’s a long release—clocking in at nearly 90 minutes—but it takes only a fraction of that time for the listener to become wholly entranced.

Before we get too far into the music, however, it’s worth talking a little bit about The Picturesque Episodes. The band is the pseudonym for one Darius Gerulis, a 21-year-old Lithuanian who has released 4 other instrumental albums as the Picturesque Episodes in the last year. Dealing thematically with concepts ranging from dreams, to love, to nature and technology, Gerulis has presumable been writing and creating this body of work for most of his life.

“Gerulis has a lot of passion and a lot of heart, and it bleeds through in every aspect of this massive album.”

Constellations’ theme is not so immediately obvious. The 16-page booklet that comes with is an intriguing mix of photography and illustration, threaded together by a dream-like, ambiguous story about a man on an alternately beautiful and hellish odyssey. Upon listening to the album, however, I think most listeners will develop their own stories and feelings to go along with the music.

This is not a slight of Gerulis’ story at all—true to the name he has chosen to perform under, his music evokes scenes, dreams, movies,  and memories. This genre has always, at least in me, induced soul-searching and nostalgia trips both good and bad. It’s a weirdly personal form of music, that doesn’t, on paper, sound like it would be.

The tools Gerulis uses to this end are primarily guitars, though he’s hardly limited instrumentally. It’s full of all the familiar build ups, breakdowns, sudden breaks and explosions, evolving movements and melodies that typify this kind of spacey shoe-gaze slow rock, but it’s how the parts fit together that make it special. Gerulis has a lot of passion and a lot of heart, and it bleeds through in every aspect of this massive album.

Constellations is perhaps the last album Gerulis will release as the Picturesque Episodes, citing an “inability to accomplish what (he) has intended to accomplish” on the projects Myspace page. I doubt he’s actually refering to the music he’s put out when he says that. If he is, then I can’t wait for the day he puts out something he’s actually happy with because, plainly stated, this reviewer thinks Constellations is great.


REVIEWED BY MAT LINDENBERG
MAT’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “The Floating Mountains” • “Constellations” • “Thirst”
Read more from Mat on his blog, Everything is Unnecessary


Download this album for FREE here