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Music

Dive into Lake of Violet's 'The Startling Testimony of Plumb Lines'

Stream the hypnotic new album from members of Locrian, Minsk, Catherine, and Sun Splitter.

Photo courtesy of Gilead Media

You don't come across an experimental, improvised ambient supergroup every day, but that's exactly what's afoot with Gilead Media's latest release, The Startling Testimony of Plumb Lines. Said supergroup, Lake of Violet, was founded by André Foisy (who already juggles committments to cultural anthropology, yoga, and musician in Locrian and Kwaidan) and former Minsk (and current Cedars of Lebanon) drummer Anthony Michael Couri.

Those two names alone already paint a fairly clear—if Impressionistic—picture of what a listener might expect from a collaborative recording, but then took it up a notch inviting Sun Splitter bassist Jacob Essak nd Neil Jendon (who handles guitar, vocals, synths, of Kwaidan and Catherine) into the fray. The end result is surprisingly accessible, and very pretty, in a kisses-in-the-graveyard kind of way. The album is loosely structured and very jammy, floating along on waves of hypnotic drones, muted drums, and ebbing synth, while Jendon goths it up on the vocal front with a low, moody croon.

Get swept away by The Startling Testimony of Plumb Lines below, and buy it outright from Gilead Media on April 1.