Wake of the Dying Sun King

Wake of the Dying Sun King is the second full-length of epic meditative drone from this Southwestern Virginia collective. Like Pelt (with whom it shares several members), Spiral Joy Band uses mostly acoustic instruments to create slow, building pieces rich with human detail. The steady rolling of multiple Tibetan bowls, bowed and struck gongs, hypnotic fiddle, shruti box, and other instruments are recorded live in continuous performances that frequently stretch beyond an hour per piece. The performance aspect is key to Spiral Joy Band's aura; the variations in approach, force, etc. With which each tone is played, and the clear, open recording (mostly in Blacksburg's Glade Baptist Church) highlight the subtleties of the music. Wake is a much more percussive set of music than Spiral Joy Band's previous Lullabies for Jeff Dean CD (VHF#94), with Nathan Bowles' expert percussion lending a lot more clang to the mix.