Insomnia has a grip on many people for a variety of reasons. Stress,illness, hyperactivity, or just plain non-interest are several causesfor the inability to sleep. Many products exist with a sole purpose ofaiding in the pursuit of slumber, from pills to specialized alarmclocks and CDs with soothing sound effects or music that put the mindand body at ease. If Thousands, a band with very experimental leanings,have decided to help in their own way. Aaron Molina and ChristianMcShane started playing music together by abandoning their respectiveinstruments to start anew. They decided to play instruments thatneither knew how to play in the pursuit of music from a completelynaive standpoint. Their second album, Lullabywas recorded with twelve microphones spaced throughout the room, togive the listener spacial awareness; and the album is one long trackthat has been split up only for song identification purposes. Itspurpose is to aid the listener to sleep, and the band intends it to belistened to in one sitting to accomplish this goal. Immediately, uponlistening to the disc, the track titles have no meaning. The drone thatis omnipresent in these songs says it all. Everything blends together,and the different instruments that will be used on different tracks areonly used to obtain a slight variation. Above all else this music mustspeak with one voice for its entire length, and it does. It calms andrelaxes, and when there are vocals (the repeated refrain on "TheDaylight and the Sun," for instance), they are spoken, unobtrusive andfaded with some effect or another. The music speaks without vocals, sotherefore it has no need for them. The track titles do speak as amethod to the madness, however, as they suggest the loss of a lovedone, Matt, for whom these structures are dedicated. It is as if theband created the work for themselves or for Matt's family to help themto sleep, or to hopefully commune with him in their dreams. Lullaby,therefore, is a fascinating listen not just for the effect it isintended to cause, but for the mystery of the story behind itscreation. Chiefly, it is drone music with a purpose, one that I canattest it serves very well.Read More
