The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan (Album Review)

 

The Dead Texan - The Dead Texan

(2004)

My copy: 2022 reissue by Kranky.

Already long established as a compositional force with Stars Of The Lid, Alex Wiltzie shares The Dead Texan with Christina Vantzou - this project serving as the latter’s first full-length foray into ambient music. The two erect a delicate balance between strings and piano, working in an assortment of sounds that balance carefully between dissonance and serenity. 

Beginning with slow, streaming string arrangements, “The Six Million Dollar Sandwich” carries an emotional weight in its simple-yet-powerful chord choices - confirming that less is more. The progression becomes faintly regal on “Glenn’s Goo,” mixing electronic keys and piano for a slightly surreal approach to bittersweet mood-music. They craft such a quaint sonic landscape that it is almost startling when vocals join in before the cinematic two-part drone experiment “A Chronicle Of Early Failures.” 

Environmental sounds, spoken samples and rain noises wash away old memories on “Taco DE Macque,” the low bass hum dragging along as it were burrowing underground. The music teases happiness on “Aegina Airlines,” though melancholy is quick to riposte in Vantzou’s uneven harmonic sighing. Soundtracking some alien horror film, “When I See Scissors I Can’t Help But Think Of You” employs sinister bass notes and evocative, mysterious distortion that claws at the outskirts of the piano melody. Passing to the other side, “Girth Rides A (Horse) +” crests over cloudy skies with peaceful strings and guitar. 

“La Ballade D’alain Georges” is their most forward expression of quiet joy, exuding a warm atmosphere under loving piano that accentuates a beautifully calculated relationship with silence. “Beatrice Part 2” continues in the twilight haze before the reversed snake hissing of “The Struggle” at last concedes to nostalgic chimes. 

The Dead Texan best serves those who relish moments of solemn reflection, with an arsenal of sounds that keep things interesting across its subtle pieces. Some of the guitar additions unintentionally disturb their otherwise otherworldly style, with the piano and strings playing favorable to their mature arrangements. Both Vantzou and Wiltzie are visionaries of ambient/neo-classical music, and The Dead Texan is a moving introduction to both artists.