On paper, you might assume that two-hour-long albums of sedate drone ruminating on mental hospitals, dying mothers and the tyranny of solitude could be a drag. Stars of the Lid, though, made it sound like the most inviting proposition in the world.
The ambient duo of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie last released music together 16 years ago, yet fans loyally hung on for more. They were masters of slo-mo sublimation, able to conjure great cumulonimbuses of sound, tall and broad and imposing without a storm ever breaking out. Stars of the Lid pulsed along without drums and conveyed deep wisdom in steady gulps. That reflected, writes Wiltzie over email from his home in Brussels, his partner’s power “of emotional connection”.
