AND THERE STAND EMPIRES – Ceremonial Syndrome (RED Vinyl)

AND THERE STAND EMPIRES – Ceremonial Syndrome (RED Vinyl) – limited to 250 copies worldwide

Horton Records LP019 – Released 11.07.2018

Tulsa-based And There Stand Empires really showcases a widely-diversified musical palate, with beautifully dense and lushly descriptive instrumentals that run the gamut of progressive introspective emotion. It’s pretty and melancholic at the same time, with resounding guitar work and pounding drums that contradict the cold finality in the keyboards, along with crescendos and diminuendos that strategically battle in mock, call-response warfare. This band is very good at this sort of thing, a song being a brilliant story rather than just a minor sketch that fits within a bigger storyline. And in it’s ambiguous emotion, it is at times somewhat cathartic. What could be the soundtrack to one’s rainy day tragedy may be the memoirs of another person’s joyous lifetime. When you can pull that off, that’s magic.  Recommended if you like: Russian Circles, Steve Reich, His Hero Is Gone and other ambitious post prog material

SIDE A:

1.  Landscape With An Axe
2.  Two Planets At Once
3.  Garden Of The Fugitives
4.  Project X Inc.

SIDE B:

1. Anchored Articulation
2. Albatross At Lamplight
3. Clerical Errors Resulting In A Scheme
4. Busy Signal

Julia Hangs – piano
James Plumlee – bass, vibraphone, piano, keyboards, guitar, percussion
Daniel Sutliff – bass, piano, keyboards, guitar, vibraphone
Hank Hanewinkel III – drums

Engineered by James Plumlee at Plum-E Studios in Tulsa, OK.
Mixed and Mastered by Tyler Garcia at 33rd Street Studios in Edmond, OK.
Cover art by Sterling Williams at Club Word Up in America, OK.