Spires That In The Sunset Rise (it is a long-winded but entirely decent name) are a group of four ladies from Illinois who make music that is some sort of blend of avant-folk and crazy-batshit-insane world music. I was reminded of this album after a week of thrashing the shit out of the Sun City Girls. It is a pretty fair comparison I think. They both explore non-Western approaches to music (through structure and instrumentation for example) and through a Western context.
I am going to refuse to re-read that first paragraph because I am sure I just dribbled some embarrassing, nonsensical bullshit. Anyway of the two albums I have heard from these peeps (the other being Four Winds The Walker, which is also a really really great album) I like this one slightly better. The instrumentation is particularly impressive and really effective here. Singer, Kathleen Baird's voice is really something. It shifts from ethereal and beautiful to haunting and witch-like reglularly (at times it is hard to pick which one). They create these amazing soundscapes using almost entirely acoustic intruments only, albeit lots of them. They manage to explore a shitload of grund in the space of a 5 or so minute song. I could perhaps write more about this but I am making an effort to keep these posts a little shorter, because I odubt anyone reads the whole, especially when they're long. Anyway. it is really impressive and rewarding album, although it is at times somewhat challenging. I really recommend listening. I will link you to their myspace where you can stream these tracks for free. You should buy it is you like it and can afford it.
Buying music is for chumps.
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