Spires That in the Sunset Rise – Spires That in the Sunset Rise

2003 • Galactic Zoo Disk / Eclipse Records

One of my favorite things about music is how I can have a staunch opinion about something, and then find an album or artist that takes that opinion and punches me right in the gut with it. Take, for instance, any genre described as "free X", such as free jazz or free improvisation or free folk. I've never really cared for them, dismissing most as sounding purposeless and incomprehensible. Enter Spires That in the Sunset Rise, an album I was sure I was going to hate; instead I got in interesting exercise in folky deconstruction that has left me a bit disoriented yet humbled.

More often than not, whenever I hear "free X" music it often involves the musicians randomly banging away with no purpose or direction and making a horrid mess that sounds awful. For some reason, though, on this album, I'm feeling a lot less like that; despite the fact that yes, the music is often a horrid mess, it sounds right. There's a definite mood being played with here: it's ritualistic, pagan music, like an acid trip that takes you deep into the woods and never back out. In fact, I don't think having more "normal" melodies and harmonies would make the music any better. Sure it's chaotic and unnerving, but it's done in a way that clicks pretty nicely. It helps that there is actually a lot of rhythmic coherence, so the lack of melodic coherence isn't missed as much.

I also really like the variety of instruments used; there's lots of interesting percussion with bells, chimes, cymbals, and such all over the place (I think I hear a hammered dulcimer in there somewhere, too, which is really cool). Even the more traditional folk instruments (violin, acoustic guitar, piano) are played a little off-kilter to match the rest of the music.

None of this is to say I'm enamored with this album or anything; there's still plenty about it I'm not a fan of. The vocals are especially annoying, and even though they do fit the music really well, they can be a bit too much for me. They use several different vocalists (I think) but they all have the same style, which often borders on obnoxious. And there are plenty of times when the music doesn't click and it loses me (though to be honest, the fact that this relatively uncommon is an acheivement).

I'm not totally sold on this album as a whole, but it has definitely had an impact on my understanding of how this sort of music can be heard. It isn't for everyone, especially not those somewhat familiar with the weirder side of folk (though it does make a nice continuation of Comus' debut), but it's another album I'm glad to have heard.

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