Tangled Thoughts of Leaving • Deaden the Fields [2xLP]

Deaden the Fields by Tangled Thoughts of Leaving on double vinyl.
This first pressing (!) comes on red with black marbled vinyl. Limited to 200 EU copies.

Info

We’ve recently witnessed the deconstruction and rebuilding of individual ideas on Tangled Thoughts of Leaving’s newest record No Tether, so there’s no better time than now to re-trace all the steps back to where the band had their conceptual foundation. Their 2011 debut Deaden The Fields presents as a love letter to prog, jazz and post-rock, unique and sprawling but more dedicated to approachable flow than its unyieldingly challenging younger sibling.

This is not to say that Deaden The Fields can be easily digested upon first listen; laughing in the face of quick and snappy album openers, the record begins with the 17-minute monolith “Landmark.” The impressive trick that TTOL executes, however, is making this potentially intimidating running time feel entirely manageable, as the powerful one-two punch of keyboardist Ron Pollard and drummer Behn Stacy somehow imbue their sonic gymnastics with an unexpected listenability.

For all intents and purposes, Deaden the Fields should be a difficult record to wrap one’s head around, even for seasoned listeners, but it remains such that one can lock into a groove in the same moment that they are awed by the skill and craftsmanship of it all. This is in many ways facilitated by the manner in which guitarist Andrew McDonald and bassist Luke Pollard never overcrowd the mix, and in fact fill the spaces around the free-jazz madness supplied by Ron Pollard and Stacy in ways that pull everything together in the necessary fashion to allow these very intellectual compositions to be instantly enjoyable on the visceral level that is integral to the ultimate success of the music.

Mastered by Swedish engineer Pelle Henricsson (Cult of Luna, Refused), Deaden the Field quickly became championed by listeners, leading to TTOL’s consistent support of major acts touring Western Australia (Russian Circles, Boris, The Ocean, etc.) and their increased visibility and reputation in prog and post-metal/post-rock circles, ultimately blazing a path to their highly touted 2015 masterpiece Yield To Despair and beyond to No Tether’s release in 2018. Through dunk!records fans can now experience their brilliant genesis point anew with this beautiful double vinyl re-release.

— by David Zeidler at Young Epoch

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