Photo by Marc Santo
“Waning Hymns offers hope and understanding amid desolate soundscapes and turbulent times…” — Decibel
Doom folk collective GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE today release their video for “Closed Eye.” Now playing at Decibel Magazine, the entrancing track comes by way of the band’s Waning Hymns full-length, set for release on July 31st via Scry Recordings.
Among the Pacific Northwest’s hidden societies, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE forges a doom-inflected folk ritualism; dirges tinged with Eastern psychedelia and meandering meditative trances. For the last several years, the group has shown the Washington state underground a clear vision for their sound and lyrics creating a shamanistic space for the listener, placing them into a trance, then building up the excitement. The overarching theme of their lyrical work is that of an idealist, a yearning for an end to the modern human condition, for destruction of the constructs and constraints of oppression.
Writes Decibel Magazine, “GEIST and his collaborators examine Western culture’s withering empathy and booming consumerism on their upcoming Waning Hymns LP. But GEIST isn’t content to just observe and reprimand. Waning Hymns offers hope and understanding amid desolate soundscapes and turbulent times… In ‘Closed Eye,’ GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE focus on meditative instrumental ambience instead of apocalyptic poetry. Low hums and ominous tones. The flickering imperfections of film stock. The distant shrieks of woodwinds. The collective’s usual 10+ minute oaken song structure is absent, replaced with nebulous unease.”
Adds M. Sauder (GEIST), “This video was made using 8mm and 16mm film footage from Iceland by filmmaker James Hollenbaugh. It is the visual narrative to an inward journey influenced by the natural world. We hope its meditative pace will lead the listener to new pathways inside their mind and spirit. This music first appeared in the short film Searching Skies by Vivian Hua which I scored, as part of the Seventh Art Stand film series. The series seeks to expose and end bigotry, specifically Islamaphobia.”
View GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE’s “Closed Eye” video, now playing at Decibel, at THIS LOCATION.
Find the band’s previously released video for “Volition” below.
Recorded and mixed by J. M. McNulty at Killroom Studios and mastered by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli with artwork by Anima Nocturna, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE‘s Waning Hymns will be released on digital and vinyl formats. For preorders visit THIS LOCATION.
GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Oranssi Pazuzu, Insect Ark, Soriah, Six Organs Of Admittance, Pedestrian Deposit, Yonatan Gat, Father Murphy, and Jackie-O-Motherfucker, and has appeared at Thirst For Light, Missoula Psych Fest, PNW Folklife, Magma Fest, Dismal Fest, and Escalator Fest. With tours from Maine to Virginia and California to Montana, their live shows are hypnotic and emotionally charged, often taking place at unique locations like a metal forge and foundry, forests and meadows, old schools, churches and more. At their greatest, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE‘s tunes exist as an ever-changing pilgrimage, transforming their abstract drifts into apocalyptic folk hymns or private confessionals.
“These somber, enveloping sound baths exist to cause spiritual epiphanies and open obscure pathways within the individual.” – Metal Injection
“GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE sounds like the closet thing this city has to ’90s/00’s – era Swans: heavy, ritualistic rock that somehow straddles the moat between forlorn pastoral vibes and grim urban realms.” – The Stranger
“[They] do brooding, monolithic, and mystical like no one else, crafting out sand dried sonic psalms that howl like youthful godspeed ghost riders.” – The Sunday Experience
“Their music is both earthy and abstract, ancient and timeless. They truly opened a portal, infusing the blue-lit room with otherworldly vibes; slightly spooky, completely sublime.” – The Drainage
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