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Limited Edition LP - Sky Blue Vinyl (Tour Edition)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Edition of 50 - Silkscreened sleeve. White ink tour edition with night-glo outer sleeve. Sky blue vinyl.
Hand-printed, heavyweight card sleeve. Hand-numbered.
Includes unlimited streaming of Ceremony in the Stillness
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For its fourth full-length, A-Sun Amissa plunges deeper than before. Guitars come to the fore. Heavy, distorted chords are present from the off, complemented by desolate ambient passages of sound. The claustrophobic atmospheres remain but combine with a new density and sonic experimentation to present a huge leap forward in structure and composition.
Ceremony in the Stillness hints at themes from the previous three outings while very much pushing the project into new territories. The intricate nuances and lulling melodies from Desperate in Her Heavy Sleep (2012) reappear while the billowing guitars of You Stood Up For Victory, We Stood up For Less (2013) are referenced throughout. In comparison to 2017’s The Gatherer it’s clear there is a firmer direction in the song-writing as the album weaves through elements of doom, dark ambient and post-rock, placing its very own unique mark firmly into the ears of the listener.
A-Sun Amissa is the project of Richard Knox (founder of Gizeh Records and member of The Rustle of the Stars, Shield Patterns and Glissando) and while Knox takes the central role on Ceremony in the Stillness, again we see several collaborators contributing to the record.
As album opener The Black Path unfurls, the cello of Jo Quail creeps through the thick wall of guitar to offer a moment of calm before the song comes to life with the introduction of drums (from Archelon’s TJ Fairfax) for the first time on a A-Sun Amissa record. Alongside a dense and hypnotically repetitive riff, it’s A-Sun Amissa’s heaviest moment to date as the song collapses under its own weight to leave a crumbling and uneasy passage of cello and guitar drone. Intertwining guitars take centre stage on the melancholic With Wearied Eyes as the atmosphere harks back to the debut album, before the hefty guitar riffs return on To the Ashes. The Skulk reminisces on The Gatherer as David McLean’s saxophone unravels around the ondes Martenot of Christine Ott amongst a shifting tide of oscillators and drones. The record then takes a turn as No Perception of Light’s soporific opening gives way to a mesmerising beat and bassline, developing into a wall of crunching guitars and electronics. The closer, Remembrancer, features chiming guitars, conversing over bowed strings, the melancholy returning again as an enveloping, haunting orchestral outro brings the record to a conclusion.
Whether Ceremony in the Stillness represents a permanent shift in direction for A-Sun Amissa remains to be seen. What’s clear is that Knox is comfortable being on the outside looking in, and on expanding A-Sun Amissa’s palette of sounds even further it only adds to the intrigue of what comes next.
Richard Knox: Electric guitar, Bass guitar, Field Recordings, FX, Drones, Electronics, Piano, Processing
TJ Fairfax: Drums
David McLean: Saxophone
Christine Ott: ondes Martenot
Jo Quail: Electric cello
String arrangements by Richard Knox and Jo Quail
Recorded at Cloud Blunt Moon, Glossop, UK and Temple of Boom, Leeds, UK.
All tracks written, recorded, produced and mixed by Richard Knox
Mastered by Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden (San Francisco, CA)
Artwork by Richard Knox
Sleeves hand-printed at KIN.DER
supported by 107 fans who also own “Ceremony in the Stillness”
I'm still getting through this multi-genre whopper compilation. It covers so many genres - all of which I like. It was expertly compiled and gives a great sense and overview of the labels releases. PadraigC
The aptly named Gloomseeker turn in a powerhouse new LP, full of bleak, haunting songs, echo-drenched vocals, and shadowy atmospheres. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 10, 2021
Post-rock musician and World Within Worlds label head Lachlan R. Dale returns with his debut full-length, a suite of ambient explorations. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 27, 2024
supported by 32 fans who also own “Ceremony in the Stillness”
Have to say the combination of Baker, Goff, and Harris never disappoints. If you love structured, long-form hypnotic electro-acoustics and drumming somewhere between song and ritual, this is your thing. I appreciate that it stays locked on the groove and doesn't feel the need to noodle. Lost Tribe Sound