Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal

Album review

Adam Wiltzie's first non-soundtrack full-length under his own name was recorded at his home studio in the Flemish countryside, with strings recorded in Budapest at Magyar Radio. Inspired by a recurring dream in which people who listened to Wiltzie's music died, Eleven Fugues for Sodium Pentothal points to the usage of barbiturates as a means of escape. The album's expansive waves of flowing strings and electronic drones evoke a state approaching bliss but one not entirely free of earthly pressure. Stars of the Lid's music always had a funereal quality, particularly on pieces like the self-explanatory "Requiem for Dying Mothers," and it's difficult not to think of Eleven Fugues as a sort of memorial to bandmate Brian McBride, who died in 2023. There's no indication that it was intended that way, however. "Buried at Westwood Memorial Park, In an Unmarked Grave, To the Left of Walter Matthau" (lengthy enough in title and duration to count as three of the 11 fugues) begins with a dripping electronic pulse, then floats outward, changing course halfway and heading towards the light. "Tissue of Lies" is one of the more soothing pieces, with ethereal guitar strokes echoing like a canyon, producing an indescribably uplifting feeling. The album quickly gets a lot darker after that, though, with the unsettling strings of "Pelagic Swell" sporadically breaking like turbulent ocean waves, and with "Stock Horror" filled with skin-crawling static and fragmentation. "Dim Hopes" has glockenspiel-like melodies which significantly lighten up the mood, recalling a momentary return of a childlike sense of wonder. "As Above Perhaps So Below" is the album's most grandly cinematic moment as well as the most melancholy, bringing to mind neo-classical darkwave acts like Dead Can Dance. The rest of the album gets lighter and airier, as accurately described by the track title "We Were Vapourised," yet it has an ending that feels inconclusive, like slowly returning to consciousness as a dream fades away. That's not to say that the album feels unfinished, though -- it's a richly orchestrated, superbly crafted effort that veers between several different emotional states before its time is up.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo