The Tired Sounds of the Stars of the Lid by Stars of the Lid
The first time I heard a Stars of the Lid album, I felt like kicking myself for never picking it up sooner. "Ambient-drone" may not sound like the most interesting genre of music because seriously, isn't droning pretty much, well, the same thing over and over again?. And really, who, in their right, un-stoned mind, would consider spending 2 hours of their life listening to music that describes itself as ambient drone anyway?
But listening to their music, it is immediately self-evident why it's considered one of the best albums of the decade.
As the album title might suggest, the music is heavy. With the aid of strings and horns, the depth to the record is amazing. It's a subtle sigh of exhaustion in nearly every form, from mental hospitals, gasfarming and dying mothers to broken harbors, lonely people, distance and love.
Despite its heavy content, the music itself is not dense; it's the sheer expansiveness of it that defines its subtlety and makes it meaningful. Each concept and sound is given as much space and time it needs to develop, which allows for a 2 hour long, two disc experience.
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