“Never judge a book by its cover” is one of the world’s oldest adages and still rings true even today. The Dead Texan’s new self-titled album is the perfect example of this. While the cover looks like some second rate Brooklyn garage rock band, complete with a drawing of a boy and girl all dolled up in Billysburg hipster gear, the music featured inside is, in fact, an experiment in dronology from one of the genre’s leaders, Adam Wiltzie of Stars of The Lid and Aix Em Klemm.
Released by Kranky, an independent label still batting .1000 after over ten years of being in business, The Dead Texan is the natural successor to Brian Eno’s Music For Airports-an album that shaped the entire genre of ambient music and served as a milestone for synth-based minimalism as a whole. Like Music For Airports, The Dead Texan is filled with mini-symphonies peaceful enough to sleep to yet interesting enough to hold listeners’ attentions completely during in depth listening sessions.
The spectral, film noir-esque quality of “When I See Scissors, I Can’t Help But Think of You” sounds like it belongs on the score to David Lynch’s latest film. The gorgeous piano fading in and out with childlike vocal samples and synths, make for an absolute dream come true to any Angelo Badalamenti or Windy & Carl fans and manages to stand out as one of the album’s best tracks.
The Dead Texan is not only an audio project but also a visual collaboration between Wiltzie and video artist Christina Vantzos. Included is a DVD with short animated films based around the music created by Wiltzie.
One of the standout short films on the DVD is for the song “Aegina Airlines.” The drawings are similar to the front cover caricatures, but are much more engrossing as faces and shapes float around while simplistic color patterns fade in and out. The colors used are-much like the music-warm, inviting and minimal.
While the majority of the album is instrumental, a few tracks feature gorgeous male and female vocals. The last track, “The Struggle” features lush, celestial voices distorted to sound even more aloof and distant than the accompanying music. An uplifting track, “The Struggle” resonates long after The Dead Texan is over and serves as the perfect end to a near-perfect album.
-Mita Tate
