Sojourn Worship Leader/ Pastoral Assistant Jamie Barnes is also a singer-songwriter, and has garnered strong reviews and press notes from Billboard Magazine to the Louisville Courier Journal. Most people describe his music using words like “acoustic,” “folk,” “Americana,” or simply “indie.”
Stars of the Lid, one of Jamie’s favorite bands, is a due known for drone-based ambient music. Quite different from Jamie’s own “sound,” but among his favorite artists. This Thursday night at The 930 Listening Room, Jamie will be performing on the same show as Stars of the Lid, along with Christopher Willits. On top of that, Jamie informed me that he will be debuting some new material that he’s written over the last few weeks and months at this show.Â
Now, check out Jamie’s review of the musical landscape created by Stars of the Lid:
Stars Of The Lid: Purveyors of Ambience
by Jamie Barnes
Brian Eno would puke on your shoes if you insisted ambient music was merely good background noise. As the great-grandfather of the genre, he thinks better of his offspring. Yes, it is true that ambient drones are wonderful accompaniment for reading a book, curling up for a nap, or even writing a Travelogue article; but beyond this casual, passive approach lay wonderful nuances that provide a truly unique listening experience.
Eno couldn’t have asked for better wards to carry on his legacy than Brian McBride and Adam Witlzie, Texas born music students that, as a duo, form Stars of the Lid. Their extended tones and slowly unwinding strands of melody prescribe a stimulant for your brain. As you listen, you can feel it begin to tingle just below the scalp. Your head is split open, liquid grey matter is poured in and it begins to bubble and fizz, attempting to settle. The music engulfs you and disassembles your body from normal physical awareness cell by cell.
Obviously, there is more here than some long haired new age keyboard player holding down two notes while his unbuttoned shirt rustles in the fan-generated breeze. This is carefully noted song construction with delicate attention to detail. No synthesizers allowed here. What you hear are swelling guitars and real orchestral instruments sonically manipulated to push them beyond all normal recognition and context. Rhythm and vocals would be a rude intrusion into these washing soundscapes. “Stars of the Lid” seems a fit label for their signature sound, as the music becomes the soundtrack to what images play behind our shut eyes.
In preparation for their rare and surprising visit to The 930 in April, my fellow ambient enthusiast, Alex O’Nan, joined me on a Sunday afternoon as we cued up a few SOTL tracks on his iPod. We hit play and let the conversation roll in an attempt to articulate what this music directed us to feel:
Alex: So … what are we doing?
Jamie: The idea here is to share out loud how we experience this music, in a sort of conversational style.
A: What now?
J: Just push play.
“Requiem For Dying Mothers” – The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001 Kranky Records)
A: This is what a string quartet might sound like from inside the womb. Is that weird?
J: Yes, Alex.
A: I mean … its like these sounds find you behind a thick, amniotic fluid. You can hear the distinct notes and melodies … but the attack of the string section in this song is dull. Muted, but still rich and organic.
J: I can dig that. This title is pretty heavy too, right? All together, this is a very emotive piece. It has three movements that comprise the concept – the relation between this and contemporary classical is tightly knit.
A: It’s very introspective and brings out a lot more emotion than, say, what your yoga instructor would put on the stereo.
J: Amen. Way more comforting and sincere … are you crying over there, Alex?
A: Shut up.
“Piano Aquieu” – The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001 Kranky Records)
A: What is that, an organ?
J: Uh … maybe. Maybe a piano, but a distant piano. It make me feel like we are doing laundry in the basement of some old building and we are hearing this music through the heating ducts or something.
A: Yeah, like some lonely resident is playing this melody inside the stillness of their apartment, and unknowingly sharing it with everybody else in the place. We are trespassing into a very private moment. It’s beautiful.
J: I put this album on a lot at night when I go to bed. My wife sometimes sings this melody in her sleep. No joke. A perfect song for the somnambulist in everyone.
“Dungtitled (in A major)” – And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007 Kranky Records)
A: Ah, the first track of the new record.
J: What does “Dungtitled” mean? This doesn’t remind me at all of dung. I smell no dung.
A: Definitely not poop-esque. This gives me the feeling of being submerged under water. Very refreshing actually. Quite the opposite of dung.
J: Hear that trumpet come in? A little Miles Davis’ In A Silent way influence there.
A: There is not a lot of dynamic movement in this piece, but it doesn’t matter. The chords just float there and hover you out over that imagined water. SOTL are masters of suggesting visual imagery through sound. Very nice.
“Dust Breeding” – Avec Laudenum (1999 Kranky Records)
J: Wow. The sounds are collecting on my skin. Such rich texture.
A: Now, who is the weird one?
J: Leave me alone, O’Nan. This is journalistic gold.
A: I love their titles. Except when they are about dung. But they usually provide you with some sense of what the music wants to suggest. I think SOTL challenges its listeners to pay attention to the gaps and spaces between notes. Almost training you to hear the beauty that is not there. It creates a space, an environment to build feeling.
J: Whew. Now that’s gold!
Stars of the Lid have released nine albums since their conception in 1994. They will be toting along a string quartet and a video projectionist for their trip to The 930 on Thursday, April 24. Expect the music to get into your bloodstream and start to roll its own ethereal footage on the giant screen in your head. Tickets are available at Ear X-tacy in Louisville, online at the930.org and at The 930 during Sojourn Gathered services, other 930 concerts and at the Sojourn office Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
