Planets Around the Sun.
February 7, 2011, 0 comments
“I like to think about musical discovery as an astral voyage”, Caitlin King of Planets Around the Sun told Jakob Battick in a recent interview for the University of Southern Maine’s official student newspaper, The Free Press. And indeed, the first image that immediately comes to mind when listening to one of the group’s meandering sonic explorations is that of a trip – not necessarily through space though, it could just as well be through deepest woods or across endless plains somewhere on the North American continent, or indeed simply deep into your inner self, but the idea of traveling in and of itself is certainly connected to the music of Planets Around the Sun.
For the group from the state of Maine that at its core consists of Ian Paige, Caitlin King and Matthew Lajoie (of Herbcraft and Cursillistas), improvisation consequentially plays an important role – it’s about exploring in the first place, and not necessarily about getting somewhere in particular. Still, the densely arranged psychedelic folk efforts never appear to loose focus, even if the end isn’t found before the twelve minute mark has been reached, as is the case with the gorgeous piece Slow Horse from their latest offering Tower which has been released on cassette via Matt’s own L’animaux Tryst last month. The tape is already sold out, but you can listen to/download it in its entirety over at their bandcamp.
Up next will be an LP entitled Ram of Heart and the Earthen Chariot, a “double record concept album” that is composed equally of “messages” (i.e. songs) and “explorations” (i.e. improvisations). There is no label yet, but below you can already have a look at the appropriately psyched-out video for the marvelous LP track Sunshooter, which I’d include in the “messages” category.
Planets Around the Sun – Slow Horse
