I'm a little inclined to cite Forkner and company's precocious preoccupation with flippant stabs at some kind of homespun mysticism (if you haven't already, see Owl Kill You's interview with Adam Forkner to get a better picture of this) as a point of criticism-- like the extra 'y' in dragyn (ye olde spelliing?) or the 'y' stuck in the band's name for this recording. If you let them, the "What the fuck"s surely abound. But I prefer to take this flipness toward their projects as purposefully hokey in-joke, glazing on the considerably more substantial cake of the sounds within. When considering the sonic ecstasy of bands like Yume Bitsu and Landing, Adam Forkner and his collective (I don't think he's the leader, but he seems to be a creative center of some kind) are quite obviously sound hunters/cultivators of the purest order.
That said, it seems as though this recording is almost exactly the opposite of what the conceptual packaging might elude to. There is no unifying concept, no moments of pointed brilliance, and none of the soaring vocals that suited Yume Bitsu's equally conceptual looking Golden Vessyl (there's that 'y' again) of Sound so well. This album contains a motherload of noodley fuzz taps and drifts now-you-hear-it now-you-don't rhythmic clusters over six tracks. The melodies are occasionally captivating, like the hypnotic march that develops on track four, "Victory of Ice and Magyk."
Both one and four are slightly foreboding-sounding, while between them are two tracks of gorgeous but unmemorable bliss-out effervescence. "By a Curious Vessyl" continues this pattern, which may induce fans of space rock type stuff to pine for some liquid LSD to properly immerse themselves in such well-honed but aimless tonal space. This changes around the 9:30 mark, but then you've only got about two minutes of a decidedly gorgeous melody before the track is over. This album was largely improvised, so I guess this is what happens. Still, I wish I could hear the sounds that fade away, as this is one of the better parts of the album.
That brings me to "Freeing The Winds," the album's final (and lengthiest) track. This would be a great song, as AMG's Ned Ragget eludes to in his review, to watch a particularly majestic sunrise to. It comes nicely into its own as a sort of motorik anthem that sounds a bit like recent Sonic Youth (think, instrumentally, "The Empty Page" or "Rain On Tin," and you're pretty close) with a steadily piled, ecstatic cacophony before fading into wind sounds around 18:20 for the rest of the track.
This is crafty material, but it lacks the melodic hooks that could really carry the songs off. As it is, you've got some good background music or music to trip out on. Here's to better fuyture releases!
1. Stolen Wind
2. Council Is Called
3. Over Land, Over Ice
4. Victory of Ice and Magyk
5. By a Curious Vessyl
6. Freeing the Winds
More about: Surface of Eceyon
