Photo by Alex Ross
New Zealand-based atmospheric metal ensemble SPOOK THE HORSES today debuts the visual accompaniment to “Following Trails.” Now playing courtesy of New Noise Magazine, the hymn comes by way of the band’s People Used To Live Here full-length released last year via Pelagic Records.
Issues the band, “The video is based upon a recollection of a dream, filmed within the house that the record People Used To Live Here was originally written, and is intended as both a literal and metaphorical reflection on ideas relating to the subjective limits of self, perspicacity, and self-determinism.”
View “Following Trails,” courtesy of New Noise, at THIS LOCATION.
If you missed it, view SPOOK THE HORSES‘ interactive video for “Made Shapeless” and stream People Used To Live Here below.
People Used To Live Here is out now on CD, LP, and digital formats via Pelagic Records. See all ordering info below.
North America: http://bit.ly/sthputlhNA,
Europe: http://bit.ly/sthputlhEU
Australia: http://bit.ly/sthputlhAUS
Digital: http://goo.gl/gHdfnS
Imagine if band members could rotate between instrument positions, because each musician had a proficient grasp on each instrument involved? It would supply a degree of freedom and mutual musical understanding, something that most bands could only dream of. SPOOK THE HORSES, from Wellington, New Zealand, are such a band.
Perhaps it’s this multi instrumentalism and virtuosity that explains the vast musical territory that is explored among the band’s three albums: while 2011’s debut album Brighter was defined by sweet post-rock crescendos, 2015’s Rainmaker was a much heavier affair that would appeal to fans of Cult Of Luna or Amenra. The band’s forthcoming People Used To Live Here, in quiet stark contrast to the aforementioned, sees the band turn the distortion knobs way down, to a mildly saturated crunch tone, at most.
The band’s most daring effort to date, People Used To Live Here explores the natural and immediate. Written and conceived in relative isolation over several grim Southern Hemisphere winters, SPOOK THE HORSES is defining their own sonic trademark with this album: an atmosphere of quiet desolation, raw and real, desperate and unsettling; the post-apocalyptic soundtrack to abandoned places, where people used to live, at one point in time, long ago.
Fans of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Mogwai (Come On Die Young), and Amenra (acoustic), pay heed.
“People Used To Live Here shows the band opting for a stripped-down, slow-burning approach that results in songs reminiscent to the moody jazz of Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, the desert doom of Earth, and the melancholic ‘slowcore’ of Codeine and the like. The record is a prime example of when big sonic risks pay off.” – Svbterranean
“…gentle and warm, a mature and well-rounded effort and an example of a band drawing a wide range of influences without losing coherency. They’re also just off-putting enough to be a little frightening; consider the horses spooked indeed.” – The Monolith
“The disparate feelings pull at the listener as the guitars lilt slowly through the songs main melody. An ever-present hesitation from the instruments helps build anticipation, setting an uneasiness to the music, and petering out in much the same way it came in.” – It Djents on “Lurch”
“Off kilter (not off time) harmony and a touch of downtrodden progressive song writing style fuse with a sound that is morose in tone but doesn’t leave listeners reaching for misery. More of a slightly glum understanding of the human condition and the connective tissue that binds us to music that is not just heard but experienced as a release and is somewhat therapeutic.” — Echoes & Dust
“…without ever breaking into a race, the band are skilled at building tension and changing moods, bringing the music to emotional crescendos but also plumbing the quiet depths of abandonment and desolation.” – No Clean Singing
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