The Lonely Bell - The Absent Years
Silhouettes of trees crisply dancing with tiny movements before the skies eternally changing canvass. So many outfits they wear, sparsely full with brownish hues, skeleton fingers waving before swirling grey clouds, filling with the most indescribable shade of green, lush and saturated in relaxed summer humidity, and then exploding with all the vibrant colors they can muster. After listening to The Absent Years many times, the best description for me would be the changing pageantry of the trees around us. On the second track from this composition, "Life Without Love" begins the change of beauty. From ethereal wind swept drone to contemplative strings, a lengthy float changes just inside of the second selection. A natural cyclic transition continuing until the track "I Want To Tell You Everything", the fourth selection. Here, the advent of thought to unimaginable length of time trees have been on this earth verse humans being sustained by them... The most minimal and possibly the most sublime is the following track "A Ghostly Mist". So quiet, lightly and crunchy, maybe a hare on fresh snow or a rare winter bird of forgotten lore. A light excursion with accompanying piano and then the title track "The Absent Years" blurs everything into one glowing shape of the aural cosmos. Sinking conscious into the pinpoint we reside within the most complex atomic tapestry of spiritual mystery.
Released on both cassette and lathe cut vinyl. There are fifty and twenty-five editions respectively. As you can see in the pictures of the cassette version below, included is a hand-numbered cardboard sleeve for the plastic inner case. The sleeve has a glossy print embedded in it's face and the inner informational j-card is printed on translucent paper. Much care and effort are applied in the physical production, in every moment worthy of this sonic current released by The Lonely Bell (Ali Murray from northern Scotland). A 2024 March release for Gemany's prolific Oscarson label.
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