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Aaron
Snow (Seabearde) - Guitar Adam Forkner (((Lyfeforce)))
- Guitar Daron Gardner (Sephryn) - Bass Dick
Baldwin (Dragyyn) - Guitar Phil Jenkins (Eceyonic Man)
- Drums Surface of Eceyon is about liberation. Comprised of members from somnolent drift-rock bands Landing and Yume Bitsu, plus the neo-Kraut percussive invention of drummer Phil Jenkins, Surface of Eceyon immerse themselves in what they call "The Vessyl", a point of blurred time/space in which their collective subconscious mind yawns open and just lets those synaptic floodgates go, emitting a primordial ooze of delicately raw, improvised psychedelia. The tape rolls, the journeys are documented, and the results are downright beautiful. After the drone-gaze heights achieved on their debut The King Beneath the Mountain (Nov. 2001), Surface of Eceyon hone their craft with their second album Dragyyn, a fantastic new batch of spontaneous sonics set to reinterpret the underground space-gaze scene yet again. Outside of rare live performances, Dragyyn marks the purest, untainted offering of the Surface of Eceyon experience to date. The King Beneath the Mountain was created from improvised sessions that were recorded and later sculpted via editing and overdubs; the music on Dragyyn was completely improvised as well but left unadorned, using no overdubs whatsoever. The music stands completely naked, exposing an astonishing degree of texture, depth and balance. Whittling miles of improvised recordings down to six varied pieces which stretch just over the one hour mark, Surface of Eceyon dress up their three-guitar flurry to the nines in a colorful wardrobe of effects, directed by motorik rhythms alternating between propulsive pulses and impressionist decor. In like a lion: a field recording of a typical Pacific Northwest windstorm inducts "Stolen Wind", a fiery, feisty blast of overdriven guitars spitting sparks and shrapnel all around as if they were emitted from pinwheels. With the rhythm section barreling forth incessantly, the whole tune is caught in perpetual climax from beginning to end - a forceful way to inaugurate the trips. Surface of Eceyon proceeds to explore their quieter side with "Council is Called", as distant huzz-drone afterburn exhales behind a yearning guitar line. Across the celestial body of Dragyyn, delicate drones, sparkling guitar motifs, and painterly percussive strokes evoke vivid nocturnal imagery. Vocals were spare on their debut, but on Dragyyn the sole presence of voice is resigned to a plaintive call from the deep in "By A Curious Vessyl" - a brief, distant plea before waves of shimmering guitars wash over and drown it out for good. Closing with the majestic "Freeing the Winds", gently massaged drum patterns build under echoing guitars, steadily reaching plateau after plateau, climbing and climbing until everyone kicks in at full volume. And out like a lamb: the windstorm filters back in, engulfs, and billows out, taking Surface of Eceyon with it. Taken as a soundtrack to a Tolkien-esque universe called Dryystyn (the liner notes detail a mystical story from Dryystyn of Dragyyn's battle to reclaim the wind), Surface of Eceyon succeeds in creating the perfect alter-universe for their spontaneous sound to thrive. Dragyyn is brimming with tonal explosions and color washes, where introspective passages explore cinematic lullabies and overdriven psyche-rockers spiral like fireballs. This is minimalist improvised psychedelic rock of vast and subtle complexity. With a roar like a lamb, Dragyyn provides evidence that Surface of Eceyon is one of today's most achieved improvised drone-rock bands. * |
Surface
of Eceyon