What occurs to me now, while listening to Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (henceforth AoDDoLI) is how much of Carlson’s personality is reflected in Earth’s music. It is thoughtful and patient, like its creator. It unfolds with a subtlety of nuance that is all too rare in this world of preening rock musicians bent on hitting us over the head with only the most blunt and easily digestible of expressions. AoDDoLI might appear simple on the surface, but there is a complexity at work that slowly reveals itself upon repeat listens. Carlson is able to paint pictures without words, rendering the pop music convention of lyrical hooks utterly unnecessary, using only the age-old tools of tone, timbre, dynamics and improvisation.
And what pictures these are. If you close your eyes while listening to tracks such as “Old Black” and “Father Midnight” for instance, it’s easy to imagine dusk settling over a wind-blown desert vista, a lone gunman in the distance, slowly riding towards you atop a pale horse. Much like 2005′s Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method, AoDDoLI is drenched in Old West-style Americana, evoking images of slow-motion gunfights and The Man With No Name. Carlson’s music has long possessed cinematic qualities, the exquisite sense of pacing and minimalist approach to building and releasing tension is on full display here. It is truly a wonder that no one has ever asked Carlson to score a film (at least not to my knowledge), ala Ry Cooder’s gritty and unorthodox guitar-based soundtrack work for Last Man Standing. The movie I imagine for Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I is something like a cross between one of Leone’s spaghetti Westerns and a Kurosawa samurai film. Like Leone and Kurosawa, Carlson is a master storyteller.
Carlson’s primary storytelling tool, the guitar, is a powerful one. The man can wring more soul out of three notes than the average tech death shredder can conjure with a thousand sweep-picks. His style is instantly recognizable; a jam session between Luther Perkins and Dick Dale slowed down to a glacial pace, the spaces between notes nearly as important as the notes themselves. Guitarists struggle their whole lives to find that unique “voice”, but for Carlson it seems to be innate. ”Slow and low” is part of his DNA.
Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Carlson’s supporting cast. Lori Goldston, who most famously served as Nirvana’s cellist, brings a whole other level of depth to AoDDoLI with her skillful playing; the musical dialogue between her and Carlson that ebbs and flows throughout the album is a pure joy to listen to. Longtime Earth member Adrienne Davies is probably one of the most tasteful drummers in all of rock music; her gentle, jazzy approach pushes each composition slowly forward and provides the foundation. Bassist Karl Blau supplies the subtle (there’s that word again) low end, bridging the gap between the rumbling tectonic sound exploration of Earth’s early albums and their current minimalist take on drone. The way these musicians are able to play around, against and off of each other is truly phenomenal.
What all this means is that even though Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I is not a metal album, that doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy. The album is steeped in a gravitas that corpse-painted yahoos and pimple-faced tech death geeks will scarcely be able to comprehend. Behind the facade of simplicity lie multitudes. My unhealthy Dylan Carlson obsession continues.
http://www.thronesanddominions.com/
