My "flying through space" screensaver pops on as I sit in front of the computer while listening to Ester Drang and I think "How fitting." I can imagine myself reclined in a chair and listening to this album as I float among the stars and planets while at the controls of a grand rocketship. I guess visiting your local planetarium with a set of headphones could accomplish the same effect (at a much lower cost).
Ester Drang's That Is When He Turns Us Golden is a noisy space album filled with feedback, experimental reverb, eerie electronics, and soft vocals that should please any My Bloody Valentine fan. Similar to Loveless, Ester Drang uses plenty of controlled feedback as the transient sounds blend each song together creating one long track. Thus, there's no break in the mood. Unfortunately, the album is only 23 minutes in length, which means you'll probably need to listen to it twice in a row.
Songs such as "Lafayette," "Recently Forever," and "Always" add surfy notes from the Jason Martin school of music played over white noise and droning vocals. The constantly melancholy sounds are suitable for a 3am drive on some deserted highway under a clear night. Other tracks such as "One-Hundred Seventeen Days Adrift" and "When the Curtain's Down" hamper the album a little since they average only 18 seconds each. It's hardly worth calling them tracks, but it sounds good when you look at the sleeve of the CD and the cheap price. This is the only complaint on an album that I could easily listen to over and over. As if the rest of the album didn't already do so, "Fiddling While Rome Burns" and "The Caspian Sea" both ease you into a thoughtless trance of relaxation and bring a hypnotizing effect to your mind.
Ester Drang has created a rough-around-the-edges space/surf/noise album that you may find surprisingly easy to listen to, and better if listened to alone. I could only imagine listening to it over the warm crackle of vinyl as I lay my head to rest for the night. It will definitely be interesting to see how Ester Drang evolves with their next album.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Joe RockstrohThe chaos of a Training for Utopia only with a mellow SF59 "we're more indie then indie" vibe, Ester Drang digs into noise and chaotic distortion with their low tempo guitars, drums and Jason Martin influenced vocals. Swirling loosely connected strands of music intertwine with walls of slightly melodic noise and singing to make an EP that borders on complete "indie music" yet also manages to…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Josh SpencerShoegazers in space. Ester Drang follow the lead of My Bloody Valentine and early Starflyer 59 with their slow-tempo swirling distortion and soft vocals, but this is further out there. It's at the edge of the galaxy. Picture yourself all alone in a deserted, dilapidated space station, with some faraway pretty pop music drifting through the zero-gravity solitude. Except the frequent feedback,…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Justin W. JonesHave you ever seen those music comparison charts at your local Christian bookstore? Have you ever bought an album thinking it would be similar to the band it was suggesting? I saw one that compared Wu-Tang Clan to KIIS. That's like comparing GG Allin to Burt Bacharach. Those charts have no merit. Many people have been amused by their comparisons, therefore they should update it and put a new…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Josh MarihughAny band that tries to follow in the footsteps of Jason Martin, the genius behind Starflyer 59, has to be admired. But a band that not only follows, but follows well, is truly to be respected. Ester Drang is that band, as festival-goers at Cornerstone and Tomfest found out. While following one unfortunate trend, the short CD, Ester Drang manages to pack quite a disc into this 23 minutes. The lack…
