Craig, Ian William / Red Sun Through Smoke
Album: Red Sun Through Smoke   Collection:General
Artist:Craig, Ian William   Added:Mar 2020
Label:Fatcat Records  

Recent Airplay
1. Jan 14, 2021: Stranded at Settembrini's (2020 in Review I)
The Smokefallen
2. Apr 30, 2020: Stranded at Settembrini's
Weight

Album Review
DJ Away
Reviewed 2020-04-01
Wondrous music, built mostly on classically trained tenor voice, piano, and tape manipulation. Craig has an unbroken record of shiver-inducingly beautiful albums, and this one is another step forward. Written and recorded in a brief timespan, during a time of several crises and with just a few materials at hand, this is a significantly drier and starker-sounding record than Craig's last few, and as a result it feels much more concrete and personal. Heartwrenching. RIYL Juliana Barwick, Grouper, Tim Hecker, Sarah Davachi, The Caretaker. Favorites: 3, 4, 11, 12. No FCCs detected.

1. (1:31)—A cappella, bold and declarative.
2. (3:08)—Piano tape loops, soft hiss.
3. *(6:38)—Two verses of voice and piano, alternating with grand passages of group vocals and noise. Wonderful. A little reminiscent of The Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build a Home."
4. *(2:01)—Very high singing, accompanied by warped vocal tape loops. Precarious.
5. (3:08)—Wobbling, grainy, dissonant, eerie. Hiss, anxious pulsing, faded voice, noise.
6. (2:09)—Gentle solo piano piece. Starts bright and pleasant, though gradually the bending and distortion of the tape becomes more prominent.
7. (1:33)—Fractured-sounding vocal tracks. Craig's lead vocals sound tinny and distant.
8. (5:35)—High, echoing piano. Deeper, dirgelike piano enters at two minutes. Tatters of voice. Fades into next track.
9. (1:39)—Funereal piano. Dry vocals. "We had grief for supper. The tray was black with little flowers."
10. (3:18)—Slightly dissonant acappella harmonies, one voice drifting over the rest.
11. *(6:03)—Broken harmonies, verging on grand. Intense, doom-like distortion enters almost two minutes in. Like an inverted, broken version of his piece "On the Reach of Explanations."
12. *(3:24)—Just piano and voice. Very slow, apprehensive. "Even the dark has a dark of its own."

Track Listing
1. Random   7. Take
2. The Smokefallen   8. Last of the Lantern Oil
3. Weight   9. Supper
4. Comma   10. Far and Then Farther
5. Condx QRN   11. Open Like a Loss
6. Mountains Astray   12. Stories