Stars of the Lid make the finest drone-rock around, and everyone knows it. I remember hearing them for the first time and turning to a friend and saying "Who needs drugs when you can listen to music like this?"
Listening to their records, one does achieve a state of complete relaxation and calm that cannot be compared to any other feeling on this Earth. Fans who are no stranger to this music know that part of this magic is achieved through their intense deception: a lot of the time, you are unsure what is making the sounds your speakers are desperately trying to reproduce accurately, so heavily manipulated are some the sounds. And their bio is just as confusing a read as the music can be a listen. But if you just give in to what you're listening to, it doesn't really matter if it is identifiable or if it makes sense. It just is. And you feel that as it all comes together to greet you. On a more technical and less ethereal note, "The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid" marks the first time strings, horns, and piano have been added to SOTL's repertoire, and the results are astonishing. It is their finest, clearest, most well-conceived effort to date, their "Messiah," if you will. Because those are the images that pop into your head listening to this work: visions of heaven and what lies beyond. It all plays out like different people's visions of an afterlife. Strings mix with dog whimpers and chains dragging, and Eno-esque keyboards reflect a warmth that Brian wishes he could find. It's just plain beautiful, a natural progression and a triumph any band should be immensely proud of. The only thing you're left with when it's all over is a thought: "Where could it possibly go from here?" And isn't that going to be wonderful given what you've just heard?
 
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