Welcome back to Heavy Vanguard, where Scott Murphy and I explore the strangest, most dense compositions that music has to offer. This week we explore Loren Connor‘s album Red Mars: an album that, while experimental, comes with a certain subtlety about its experimentation. It’s actually one of the most listenable albums that we’ve covered thus far; it sounds a bit like Stars of the Lid and other drone bands of a more ambient, minimalist nature (as opposed to the often heavy and oppressive sounds of, say, Sun O))))—something we reference quite a bit in this episode. However, while Stars of the Lid’s music arguably has some sort of composing at its roots, Red Mars seems completely improvised; and given Connor’s musical prolificity (while battling ALS at the same time, amazingly), this statement seems accurate to make.
All in all, this is a short week. Red Mars is one of those albums that has more of a personal meaning than anything; it’s almost as if it was intended to be a intimate moment with the listener rather than a genre-defying statement. As a result, we didn’t have too much to say, other than that this is absolutely worth listening to.
This Week’s Episode:
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