Vantzou is a woman of wide ranging talent, and is know as a film maker as well as a composer. Christina is also one half of The Dead Texan, with the other half being Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid. Wiltzie makes an appearance in the credits of this album, as the two of them spent four months mixing it. His involvement is evident from the complex textured sound, which is reminiscent of both SofL and Winged Victory for the Sullen.

This is largely an instrumental album that features piano, woodwinds, & various synthesizers along with bassoon, oboe, and strings, with occasional haunting vocals. Surprisingly for this style of music, this album features a large number of short tracks that rarely go past four minutes. There’s not epic soundscape contained within, with each piece succint and to the point.

There’s also quite an impressive story on how this album came to be. I’m always doubtful when I read press releases, becasue marketing people do love a ‘log cabin’ story, but this one has a hint of truth to it.

“Developed over a four year period, and entirely funded by a part time job working as a SAT university entrance exam mathematics tutor”

I guess they say that Maths and Music are closely linked, but it’s nice to think of the tuition money being well spent!

While this album never hits the heights of Stars of the Lid, it is quite beautiful at times, and does swell and move with style. The instrumentation is varied and the production gels the work together into something transcendent. For those that dabble at the edges of classical music, this is certainly one worth discovering.

This album was released by Kranky on Feb 24th.

Track List:

Anna Mae

Going Backwards to Recover What was Left Behind

Brain Fog

Strange Symptoms

Vancouver Island Quartet

Sister

VHS

Arp

Little Darlin Seize the Sun

Vostok

The Magic of the Autodidact