A fairly high percentage of my listening over the past decade has been of bands like Eternal Tapestry.
On reading the band profile, I also realise that I have been listening to members of the band in different guises as they have contributed at one time or another to artists like Jackie O-Motherfucker, Heavy Winged, Barn Owl and Cloaks; founder member Dewey Mahood has also recorded as Plankton Wat since 2002.
These various projects are a reflection of the flourishing experimental noise-drone community centred in and around Portland, Oregon.
For these artists, commercial success is not high on the list of priorities and limited edition CDRs and cassettes are often the order of the day. In this context, Eternal Tapestry's first album for Thrill Jockey stands as a high profile release. Previous output has come out on private presses or through Not Not Fun Records, Three Lobed Recording and Solar Commune.
The band started in 2005 , originally as a duo (Mahood and Nick Bindeman ) and then recruited Nick's brother Jed. Since then they have expanded to the current five piece line up through the addition of Ryan Cralise (sax, synth) and Krag Likins (bass).
The way the band record will give you a fair indication of what they sound like. As with bands like Grateful Dead and Can, improvised instrumentals are a key source of their ideas and this album consists of edited highlights drawn from two hours of material recorded in their home studio.
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The stated aim of creating a "dark serene ambient trip" is achieved over the course of five tracks which reject power chords or token crescendos in favour of slow building jams.
Titles like Cosmic Manhunt and Galactic Derelict illustrate the sci-fi themes. The lengthy final track Time Winds Through A Glass, Clearly has the nearest thing to a climactic finale but for the most part this is a deliberately understated affair.
The wah-wah guitar effects on Galactic Derelict suggest that psychedelic Japanese rock of Les Rallizes Denudes is an inspiration alongside the more obvious influences of 'kosmische' Krautrock.
It is a style that can easily stray into aimless noodling and tedious self indulgence but Eternal Tapestry avoid these pitfalls. So much so that, personally speaking, I wouldn't mind listening to the unedited 20 hours of the original recordings!
Eternal Tapestry on MySpace
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