It was a sad day when Desert Psychlist learnt that Salt Lake City's SubRosa had called it a day, but that sadness was tempered by the news that a collection of past and present members of the band had teamed up with fellow Salt Lake City resident Matt Brotherton (ex-Visigoth/Huldra) to collaborate on a new project they were calling The Otolith. More good news was to follow with the announcement that an album was in the works and that it would be released through Blues Funeral Recordings
That album, "Folium Limina", has now dropped and any sadness you might still be feeling over SubRosa's demise will swiftly dissolve away when you hear what The Otolith have to offer.
The Otolith, Sarah Pendleton (vocals/violin); Kim Pack (vocals/violin); Levi Hanna (guitars); Andy Patterson (drums) and the aforementioned Matt Brotherton (vocals/bass), are not by any stretch of the imagination some sort of SubRosa 2.0, this is a new project with different goals, a different approach and a different sound, granted there are places were the two bands crossover and share common ground but on the whole The Otolith are a different animal entirely. "Symphonic" is a word Desert Psychlist has seen banded about a lot regarding "Folium Limina" and it's a fitting word given that Pendleton and Pack's violins play such a huge role in The Otolith's overall sound, their electrified "fiddles" sometimes taking on the role of lead instruments, other times framing Hanna's crunching chords and twisted solos in a myriad of beautifully bowed colours and textures. Add to this Pendleton's wonderful soaring lead vocals and Pack's lilting harmonies and the fact that each track of the album feels less like an individual song and more like part of a greater whole and it soon becomes easy to start thinking of The Otolith's music in classical terms. "Folium Limina" is not all ethereal arias and classical dynamics however, there is plenty of growl and bite to be found here also, most of which is supplied courtesy of Hanna, Brotherton and Patterson who when they are not respectively picking glistening arpeggios, dropping liquid bottom end and beating out medieval flavoured rhythms are laying down all the dank doom and sludge you could possibly ask for with Brotherton earning himself extra metal points by pitching in on the vocals with gutsy, harsh abandon. It is this balance of the ethereal and the fey with the blustering and the brutal, that exists throughout the album's duration, that is its greatest asset and could, if the planets align, possibly put "Folium Limina" in pole position for being one of the finest debut's released this year.
You may have noticed that we have not singled out, or highlighted for review, a single track from this album and there is a good reason for that. "Folium Limina" is not an album for casually dipping into, it is an opus that needs to be listened to without interruption from start to finish, an album that should be savoured and lovingly poured over (preferably alone in a room wearing good headphones), so as to best marvel at its jaw-dropping complexities and subtle intricacies, then, and only then, should you consider sharing it with others.
Check it out (on your own) .....
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