Adam Wiltzie may have spent 2011 scoring winged victories alongside Dustin O’Halloran, and Brian McBride may have spent 2010 achieving… well, buzzworthy success, but 2012 will be known, at least among ambient aficionados, as (hopefully) the beginning of a full-scale revival. Stars of the Lid haven’t released an album in five years, and they haven’t performed for an audience in over three years. All of that changes now.
Some of that changes now. Word of an entirely new, full-length album hasn’t yet been released (or really, even alluded to), but on January 7, Kranky will be reissuing the long out-of-print vinyl version of SOTL’s third studio album The Ballasted Orchestra, which, according to a press release, was remastered by Wiltzie earlier this year, and reportedly sounds “better than ever,” as though that were possible.
Additionally, next month, SOTL are scheduled to perform two shows in the UK — the first taking place on December 9 at ATP (curated by The National, and quite sold out), and the second occurring one day later at the Church of St John-at-Hackney in London, where they’ll be headlining. As if their mere presence wasn’t enough of a draw, the duo will be accompanied at both shows by a nine-piece string section, and presumably, visuals immersive enough to make you question your solid form.
How I long to be liquified with new material! Let’s hope they’re not just teasing us.
• Stars of the Lid: https://www.facebook.com/starsofthelid
• Kranky: http://www.kranky.net