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Album: The love it took to leave you
Artist: Colin Stetson
Genre: #PostMinimalism #Experimental
Sub-Genres: #Drone #Totalism #DarkAmbient
Label: Envision Records
Release Date: September 13th, 2024
Runtime: 73:09
Non-Airable Tracks: None! This album is instrumental
Sounds Like: Nobody else! Nowhere else have I ever heard anything else that I could compare to this album's sound (or to Stetson in general)
Background: I remember the first time I heard Colin Stetson a few years ago. I was randomly scrolling YouTube and I saw the album cover of his 2011 album, New History Warfare Vol. 2:Judges, which looks like a line of horses floating into the sky and I was immediately enthralled. The song I heard, The righteous wrath of an honorable man, was instantly memorable to me and I am forever grateful for the YouTube algorithm. Up until earlier this year, I hadn't heard any of Stetson's albums and thankfully, when I finally decided to listen to one, it did not disappoint me. Soon after, I listened to another and I thought it couldn't be topped. Because of this I was a little bit hesitant to listen to this new album when it came out but I'm so glad I did, because now I know just how wrong I was.
Description: I think this album is easily Stetson's best and it just keeps growing on me. It is vast, beautiful, and at times dark and haunting. The performance is beyond incredible, each track being recorded in one take without any overdubbing or effects. The bulk of Stetson's sound is incredible performances utilizing his incredible strength of circular breathing on a variety of saxophones, most notably, his bass saxophone. Despite each track only being composed of him and his saxophone, Stetson is able to perform vocally and percussively as he and his saxophone meld into one. Each breath and press of the keys is recorded with specially positioned microphones. Stetson's voice is even recorded through a microphone around his throat while he plays, This leads to an extremely intimate and visceral performance which is best experienced through the videos of Stetson's final takes along with visual projections that are triggered by his playing. I implore you to watch these as it is impossible to fully understand just how impressive of a feat these performances are without fully experiencing them visually.
Final Thoughts: This album is a perfect embodiment of Colin Stetson and I now need to go through his discography and experience the rest of his music. I really hope I can see him play a show live because that would be a once in a lifetime experience.
Recommended To: I wholeheartedly would recommend this album to anybody that likes music at all. I genuinely would have never listened to anything like this if I hadn't stumbled upon Colin Stetson randomly but I'm so glad I did because his music has opened my eyes to the possibilities of music experimentation and how not all experimental music is just a cacophony of weird noises with pretentious people trying to convince you it sounds good while having to convince themselves the same thing.
Recommended Tracks: I recommend you listen to the album front to back but these are my favorites
The love it took to leave you
Ember
Bloodrest
Reviewer’s Name: Noah Lieberman
Date of Review: September 23rd, 2024
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