Pillars & Tongues - Lay of Pilgrim Park

After spending more than a third of 2009 touring the United States and Europe, including a month-long tour supporting Bonnie "Prince" Billy, PILLARS AND TONGUES returned to Chicago and executed, in two days, Lay of Pilgrim Park. Recorded primarily live, Lay of Pilgrim Park reads like a map, like a document of a certain space. Rich string textures molded by violinist BETH REMIS and bassist EVAN HYDZIK and fluid vocal improvisations by all three members of the trio flow alongside deep, primal, danceable grooves; percussionist/singer MARK TRECKA's bold lyrical enterprises, styled like a cross between Pandit Pran Nath and Tim Buckley, explore concepts of constant mystery, the impossibility of absolute knowledge, and the purging of those unwanted or crippling things acquired along the way. The music on this record is not easily situated within genre constraints, but has drawn comparisons to music as varied as Dirty Three, Dead Can Dance, the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir and Moondog. Pillars and Tongues has shared the stage with a great variety of artists, from Tuvan throat-singing icons Chirgilchin to feral instrumental-rock pioneers the Dirty Three. This Empty Cellar release of Lay of Pilgrim Park marks the band's first time on vinyl. This LP comes with a free CD-quality digital download of the entire album. Limited to 500 copies. (STREET DATE - 2/09/10)