A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Atomos 2xLP

Label: Kranky

Our Review:

Atomos is album number two from these atmospheric chamber-ambient drifters, featuring members of one of guitardrone minimalists Stars Of The Lid. And like on the last Winged Victory full length, the mood and vibe is not that far removed from SOTL with the same sort of moody, broody, slow build majesty. The real difference this time around is a move toward a more electronic sound, taking the dark chamber music drift of SOTL, and adding more in the way of electronics and modular synths.

Atomos, which is actually the score for a new ballet from choreographer Wayne McGregor, finds Winged Victors Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran once again joined by an entire string section, the resulting multi-part piece is stunning, equal parts Stars Of The Lid, Rachel's and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Long stretches of hushed drift, dense, dramatic swirls of stirring strings are alternately somnambulant and intense. Dark pointillist pianos drift in fields of sun dappled symphonic thrum. Long tones tangle softly into cosmic swaths of dreamlike ambience. Aching melodies unfurl over swells of deep resonant rumble. The sound at times borders on pure chamber music, but usually evolving into something more abstract and ethereal. Sometimes, it's droned out and minimal, other times sweeping and majestic. As a whole, Atomos is stately, somber, haunting and melancholic, the record blossoms slowly and subtly, evoking wide open spaces, the sun rising over windswept hills or planets glowing in the inky blackness of space. The sound of Atomos somehow both personal and vastly epic.