Our Ceasing Voice – Steadied Stars in the Morphium Sky
Our Ceasing Voice are an Austrian trio, two of whom run the Post Rock Community blog. Their debut EP is a fairly epic affair, running just shy of half an hour. Steadied Stars in the Morphium Sky consists of instrumental soundscapes that sit somewhere between the rocktronic fusion of Port-Royal and the wigged-out melancholia of Mono. The structures and progressions are a little on the predictable side, but are played with both passion and panache.
“The Inevitable Fall” is typical: a quiet, neo-ambient beginning, a minor-key build, a frenzied, thrashing climax and a gentle coda. “Of Lives Once Lost” does the same, but nevertheless packs an impressive wallop. Nobody would say that post-rock is a particularly sexy genre, but there is something about the predominant structures that echo the act – foreplay, passionate build into orgasm followed by a post-coital cuddle. Or is that just me?
“As the Horizon’s on Fire” introduces a Labradford-ish whispered vocal into the mix. The final track has a very effective, ghostly ambience about it before the inevitable climactic charge. Of the four tracks, it’s the one with the biggest emotional tug. The EP is enjoyable – it has a focus and purpose about it, and a great sound. As a first step, it’s a promising one, but the band need to break out of the straitjacketed structures and find their own voice.
Steadied Stars in the Morphium Sky is self-released and available as a free download as well as a limited edition CD. I must add that the artwork, particularly the cover photograph by Reinhold Rittinger, is exceptional. The image of a child peeking through a smeared window at a model landscape diorama is quite haunting.
For more from Dez, please read his blog Music Musings & Miscellany