aaamusic | On 29, Jun 2011

Pillars & Tongues Album Out Tomorrow, Share New Single, Tour with Dark Dark Dark and A Hawk And A Hacksaw

“Thank You Oaky” mp3 link: http://bantermm.com/tracks/PillarsandTongues-ThankyouOaky.mp3

“The Making Graceful” mp3 link: http://bantermm.com/tracks/PillarsandTongues-TheMakingGraceful.mp3

Once based entirely in Chicago, and now in near-constant motion, Pillars and Tongues is a formidable force, large and looming. The Pass and Crossings is the third full-length offering from the trio, and their second for San Francisco vinyl label Empty Cellar out tomorrow June 28th (pre-order link below), and will be touring the US in support of the record with Dark Dark Dark and A Hawk and a Hacksaw (tour dates below). Please post either/both “Thank You Oaky” and “The Making Graceful” and let me know if you would like to attend a show or hear the full album.

Having spent years developing a uniquely textured sound, Pillars and Tongues have now given teeth their creation, and the doom is manifest. Like French experimental chanteuse Catherine Ribeiro’s early ’70s collaborations with Alpes, Pillars and Tongues brings passion, cohesion, and lyricism to the avant-garde. This is immediately apparent in the lyrical depths of the album opener, “A Dance in the Billowing Absence”, a song seemingly conjured by seduction from some very dark places. Beth Remis’ lush violin lines swell and sing over plodding, taiko-like drums, moving at a pace and with a weight that would not be out of place on an Earth record. Mark Trecka’s baritone pleads with absent forms and howls haunted poetry to reach them.

Heavily melodic, rolling, desert drones permeate this album, rendering the listener captive to deeply hypnotic vibes punctuated by the heavy, danceable and almost tribal rhythms on tracks “Thank you, Oaky” and “The Making Graceful”. As with their previous album, Lay of Pilgrim Park, Pillars and Tongues continues to evoke a certain era of 4AD releases – think the goth-drama and global grooves of Dead Can Dance.

When Trecka, Remis, and Hydzik hit it just right, their voices and instruments blend like the reeds of a pipe organ to create something that is altogether far greater than the sum of their parts. This sort of alchemy is just the type of thing they have been honing for the past few years, accepting invitations to tour as support for Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Joan of Arc, opening for Dirty Three with Nick Cave, Bill Callahan, Daniel Higgs, Sir Richard Bishop, Red Red Meat, etc., and performing hundreds of concerts in various other scenarios from basements to cathedrals, from Albuquerque to Lisbon.

Trecka has kept busy in what would otherwise be moments of calm, touring much of the past year, as the drummer for Dark Dark Dark or performing solo; and Remis has loaned her voice and violin to recordings and performances by Elephant Micah.

The Pass and the Crossings is a record full of dark moments and seductive pleas. Engineered by Mike Ursey and Theo Karon, and mastered by Paul Oldham. Performed with contributions by Ben Babbitt and Theo Karon from the band This is Cinema. Available in CD and LP formats via Empty Cellar June 28th. Keeping with the times, the LP comes with a high quality digital download and 16×23″ poster.

The Pass and Crossings pre-order link: http://www.endlessnest.com/store/index.php#pillarstongues
Label Band Page: http://www.endlessnest.com/empty_cellar/artists.php#pillars
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pillars-and-Tongues/139041012799675
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pillarsandtongues
Tumblr: http://pillarsandtongues.tumblr.com/

The Pass and Crossings tracklist:
1. A Dance In The Billowing Absence
2. The Palms to Tell
3. Thank You, Oaky
4. Oaky (Doting)
5. The Making Graceful
6. Decadent Crossing

Tour Dates

September
18 St Louis, MO Off Broadway !@
19 Bloomington, IN The Bishop !@
21 Columbus, OH Wexner Center for the Arts !@
22 Toronto, ON Rivoli !@
24 Northampton, MA Iron Horse !@
25 Burlington, VT Higher Ground !@
26 Portland, ME SPACE !@
28 Brooklyn, NY Bell House !@
29 New York, NY Drom !@
30 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live @#

October
01 Providence, RI The Met !@#
02 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall !@
04 Washington, DC Red Palace !@
05 Durham, NC The Pinhook !@
06 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light !@
07 Atlanta, GA The Earl !@
08 Birmingham, AL Bottletree !@
09 New Orleans, LA All Ways Lounge !@
11 Denton, TX Dan’s Silverleaf !@
12 Austin, TX The Mohawk !@