We’ve spoken about A Thousand Arms a lot in the past few months and with good merit; as long as the label/collective continues to produce great releases, we’ll keep writing about them. Apparently, however, the people behind A1KA, as the label is known as, are talented musicians in and on of themselves. C.J Blessum, one half of what makes A1KA tick, is also in a great post rock band called Ranges. They are now preparing to release The Ascensionist, a moving album in the style of If These Trees Could Talk and Caspian. We are more than proud to premiere a single from the album, “Seven Veils”, an evocative track whose mountainous graphics tells you all you need to know. Let’s meet after the jump.
On “Seven Veils”, the Caspian comparison is more than apt; some of the guitar tones and approaches to delay used on the track are heavily influenced by them. However, missing is the more condensed approach of Caspian, instead replaced by an expansive approach which works well with the mountains, snow and dusk displayed in the visual component of the track. While you can feel the crescendo coming from the first beats of the track, when it finally does dawn over you, it’s breathtaking. The persistence of some of the guitar tones and notes is brilliant, causing your heart to stretch towards the music long after the last, crashing notes of the crescendo sound.
All in all, this is exactly what you’d expect it to be and that’s a damn good thing. This is post rock excecuted with attention to detail and a belief in the genre, evident in Blessum’s work, whether on the label or Ranges. The full album drops on September 22nd; make sure to head on over here to get it.