US Avant-Garde Metal/Post-Doom act The Otolith share a music video for “Andromeda’s Wing” from their debut album “Folium Limina,” out on October 21st, 2022 via Blues Funeral Recordings. Watch the video through the YouTube player below:
About the video, the band says: “We wrote this song in Levi’s [Hanna, guitar] basement during the winter, huddled in a circle of chairs next to his computer and his pinball machine. It came together over a couple of weeks, and at one point, Kim [Cordray, violin/vocals] had a beautiful idea for an outro vocal melody and some lyrics. Then I connected her idea with these recurring dreams I have about aliens. After that the lyrics sort of tumbled out. The protagonist is sleepwalking in the deep countryside, passing by nocturnal animals who watch as she journeys. She has the feeling of leaving her body and looking down at herself in the road. She comes to a natural spring and speaks with alien visitors about what can be done to slow the destruction of the planet.“
The Otolith is the Avant-Garde Doom and Post-Metal band formed by former SubRosa members Kim Cordray, Levi Hanna, Andy Patterson and Sarah Pendleton, alongside bassist Matt Brotherton. Following the same muse of cathartic and cataclysmic melancholy as their previous outfit, their debut album “Folium Limina” draws no line between beauty and doom, with ghostly symphonic strings interlacing with crushing bass, guitar and percussion, while all four vocalists conduct signals across time and space to arrive through cosmic storms to a sea of liquid stars. A cathartic and mind-elevating experience without a doubt!
The Otolith Debut album “Folium Limina” is out on Blues Funeral Recordings here: https://www.bluesfuneral.com/search?q=the+otolith
Tracklist:
- Sing No Coda
- Andromeda’s Wing
- Ekpyrotic
- Hubris
- Bone Dust
- Dispirit
Given the band members’ shared history within Salt Lake City’s revered avant-garde doom unit SubRosa, it’s no surprise that The Otolith‘s “Folium Limina” is both a continuation of an existing musical conversation and a herald of something entirely new. The album’s six songs are devastatingly heavy, but the band gives equal attention to speaker-rupturing riffs and to dark, immersive atmospheres. Levi Hanna’s guitar and bass steer the ship in a thick, rumbling tandem, while Kim Cordray’s and Sarah Pendleton’s violins push from the center out, sometimes painting the canvas with sharp, melodic leads and others sawing deep into parallel riffing. Andy Patterson’s drums are thunderous and thoughtful, and when the band hits a huge, all- hands-on-deck downbeat, it feels like a mountain tumbling into the hungry sea.
Those who loved SubRosa will find a familiar face of heaviness in The Otolith, but with a more pronounced emphasis on Darkwave and Neofolk, calling to mind Amber Asylum or Worm Ouroborus. Cordray’s and Pendleton’s vocals are often a lilting dance or somber incantation in close harmony, while Hanna’s bellowing roar is used sparingly but to towering effect. Although the interwoven strings and vocals rush along with graceful intricacy, The Otolith’s primary approach is full-stop heaviness, and they will rattle our bones with the earth-churning tumult of Neurosis as well as the meditative trance of Om.
Readying their live configuration with the addition of Matt Brotherton on bass and preparing to appear at this year’s Monolith on the Mesa festival in Taos, New Mexico, The Otolith will release “Folium Limina” on October 21st, 2022 via the purveyors of immaculate heaviness at Blues Funeral Recordings.
Lineup:
Kim Cordray / Violin, Vocals
Levi Hanna / Guitar, Vocals
Andy Patterson / Drums, Percussion
Matt Brotherton / Bass Guitar, Vocals
Sarah Pendleton / Violin, Lead Vocals