Skepticism

Stormcrowfleet (1995)

What is remarkable about Stormcrowfleet is that its sound is like nothing else in the genre; thinly produced guitars that are used for textural purposes, a lack of rhythmic focus and a complete disregard for "hooks" and "riffs", concepts that spawned from the rock era. Instead, we hear a sound, that is minimalist in its approach, creating vast spaces from looping keyboard melodies, and the booming echo of painfully trudging percussion. Much like the best ambient music there is an highly developed level of intrinsic patience in this music, calmly immersing the listener in its massive, vast and sprawling take on the big visions of our lives: oceans, mountains, the cosmos, infinity. There isn't so much as "forward momentum" in this music, but a feeling of an enveloping structure that increases outwards from its central energy source. It's beautiful, life-long music that focuses on what is eternally remarkable about the experience of living, rather than the mundane emotions that spring from the minutia of our every day lives.