A Winged Victory For The Sullen – A Winged Victory For The Sullen Review

I remember sitting down, in a small room, at the bottom of a decidedly alternative art gallery in Manchester. There were no more than 12 rows of benches laid out, and a couple synths set up facing the ‘crowd’.  There was a projector overhead, and very low lighting (the band themselves requested complete darkness, but for some reason, the request went unheralded). The focus was on the music, and the visuals that accompanied it. Stars of The Lid were playing a very intimate show, in a perfect setting. An understated room, with a (purposefully) minimal audience, with little or no focus on the members of the band, and an overwhelming importance placed on the beautiful sounds about to be performed.

A Winged Victory for The Sullen are NOT Stars Of The Lid, not by a long stretch, despite the presence of Adam Wiltzie’s trademark droning classical sound. What they do have in common is an impeccable sense of timing and unheralded rhythm. There is at no point throughout this whole album, any traditional rhythmic instruments. The piano is used as the formative melodic line, yet retains a sense of flow, and progressive growth. Even during the opener, “We Played Some Open Chords, And Rejoiced, For The Earth Had Circled The Sun Yet Another Year” (Thank goodness I’m reviewing this from the LP sleeve, I couldn’t imagine the CD case having enough room for readable text on this particular number) there are no hurried cadences, yet the song feels like it grows and develops, moving steadily through the emotions associated with the song title; A kind of waking realization, leading to a blooming joy, ending in a calm euphoria. Throughout the entire piece, the piano plays the lead role, bolstered by melancholy yet supportive violin and cello (played by, among others, Peter Broderick and Hildur Gudnadottir respectively).

Throughout this entire collection, it is this beautifully realized juxtaposition of joyful and melancholy that give such an overwhelmingly complete sense of emotion to the pieces on offer here. Like an impeccably realized film, there are high points and low points, bolstered by the emotions lingering from the previous phrase. At no point can the listener disconnect themselves from what has been heard before, which really gives this album a sense of continuity and drive.

As side two opens with “Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears”, the mood shifts noticeably more towards the ambient territories familiar to fans of Wiltzie’s previous output, whilst retaining an overwhelming sense of restraint.  This only overflows into a flourished cadence right near the end of the track, like the instruments have broken free of the defined swells so prominent towards the start of the piece. This is a recurring theme throughout this album, by building up a preconceived notion of musical boundaries, it makes the eventual blossom all the more breathtaking, leading the listener on an emotional journey, and a musical roller-coaster.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen - A Winged Victory for the Sullen Review
Rating
Though it feels like I am preaching to the converted (I can only imagine that the majority of people reading this have listened to this album a lot more times recently than they’ve listened to Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” for example), this really is one of the most outstanding offerings of 2011. Walking the fine line perfectly between melancholy and elation, this collection is both a dystopian archetype and an unimaginable paradise.

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