It’s staggering that in around thirty years as a key contributor to the development of ambient and modern classical music, Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie has released very few ‘solo’ albums. Firstly there was 2015’s ‘Travels In Constants Volume 24’, then a couple of soundtrack compositions for ‘Solero’ in 2016 and ‘American Woman’ three years later. Still, to put Wiltzie’s revered reputation into perspective, he’s been unerringly prolific and influential as a musician and composer since the 1990’s.
He was a partner in the seminal Stars Of The Lid duo with the late Brian McBride and continues to release eternally ethereal music with Dustin O’Halloran as A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Alongside these major projects there’s also been a raft of other inspired collaborations notably with Christine Vantzou (as The Dead Texans) and Chantal Acda (with Sleepingdog) but still just a small clutch of recordings with his name in the singular spotlight.
So news of a forthcoming, undisguised solo album from Adam Wiltzie is an event, one to be greeted with an exquisitely restrained fanfare. ‘Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal’ will appear via Kranky on 5th April, recorded primarily from his home studio in rural Flanders. Commenting on the title’s relationship to the music Wiltzie has candidly explained “When you are sitting face forward on the daily emotional meat grinder of life, I always wished I could have some (Sodium Pentothal), so I could just fall asleep automatically and the feeling would not be there anymore.”
That may sound despairingly dark but as those who know Wiltzie’s achingly beautiful work his soundscapes flow between suspension and expression, stillness and lift. Ambient music that goes beyond the hypnotic and which speaks out for itself. The indications are, from the new album’s first preview, that such emotional resonance will carry on.
Tissue of Lies, interpreted with chilling focus in the Jonas Govaerts-directed video, floats imperceptibly from calm to tension, from rich toned hum to groaning decline, heart-string guitar chimes to shivering harmonics. Graphic music for your own thoughts and more intoxicating doses waiting on ‘Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal’.
Pre-order your copy of ‘Eleven Fugues for Sodium Pentothal‘ by Adam Wiltzie from your local record store or direct from Kranky HERE
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