skyed pillars - cloud opus

Skyed Pillars

Cloud Opus
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Sean Dennison

Christian Bassett is on top of it. He's been playing music for a decade, and a year or so ago released his first album under his Skyed Pillars handle. Then, realizing he did not have to wait on anybody but himself, released his second album, Cloud Opus, that you are reading about right now.

Cloud Opus reveals itself over five tracks as a Teutonic narrative of perseverance. The music exists somewhere between the post-rock thunderstorm of Mono and Pelican and the churning guitar miasma of Boris. The tracks show their metal lineage by opening with graceful notes and chords that edge into carefully crafted swords of white noise and guitar riffs. The eponymous track ascends to Explosions in the Sky heights with its glistening guitar work bubbling over keyboards before giving way to an even deeper noise chasm. Here is the general blueprint for Cloud Opus: give the listener a riff, stick with it, and build the noise and nuances later. It's not an original strategy, but it pays off in the skilled hands of Bassett. The sameness heard throughout the album is hardly unwelcome, and he knows how to trim the fat, and when to leave it on.

"Davenport Creek" is noticeably more optimistic than the other tracks, while "Creation" explores the strengths of silence and percussion midway through the track before relinquishing itself to a buzzing instrumental passage (I mean, it's ALL instrumental). "Fated Children" as a closer is probably the weakest track on the album, but still boasts a mean coda at the end. Every track also features some tough percussion in the back of the noise.

This is a cool listen. The music is graceful without being safe, and still loud enough to warrant a noise complaint from the neighbors.

Become A Fan

bandcamp