Photo by Marc Santo
New Noise Magazine is currently streaming Waning Hymns, the new full-length from hypnotic doom folk collective GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release via Scry Recordings.
Among the Pacific Northwest’s hidden societies, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE forges a doom-inflected folk ritualism; dirges tinged with Eastern psychedelia and meandering meditative trances. For the last several years, the group has shown the Washington state underground a clear vision for their sound and lyrics creating a shamanistic space for the listener, placing them into a trance, then building up the excitement. The overarching theme of their lyrical work is that of an idealist, a yearning for an end to the modern human condition, for destruction of the constructs and constraints of oppression.
Stream Waning Hymns alongside a track-by-track breakdown from the band’s own M. Sauder, exclusively at New Noise Magazine, at THIS LOCATION.
View the band’s previously released videos for “Closed Eye” and “Volition” below.
Recorded and mixed by J. M. McNulty at Killroom Studios and mastered by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli with artwork by Anima Nocturna, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE’s Waning Hymns will be released on digital and vinyl formats. For preorders visit THIS LOCATION.
GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Oranssi Pazuzu, Insect Ark, Soriah, Six Organs Of Admittance, Pedestrian Deposit, Yonatan Gat, Father Murphy, and Jackie-O-Motherfucker, and has appeared at Thirst For Light, Missoula Psych Fest, PNW Folklife, Magma Fest, Dismal Fest, and Escalator Fest. With tours from Maine to Virginia and California to Montana, their live shows are hypnotic and emotionally charged, often taking place at unique locations like a metal forge and foundry, forests and meadows, old schools, churches and more. At their greatest, GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE‘s tunes exist as an ever-changing pilgrimage, transforming their abstract drifts into apocalyptic folk hymns or private confessionals.
“Waning Hymns offers hope and understanding amid desolate soundscapes and turbulent times…” – Decibel
“These somber, enveloping sound baths exist to cause spiritual epiphanies and open obscure pathways within the individual.” – Metal Injection
“GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE sounds like the closet thing this city has to ’90s/00’s – era Swans: heavy, ritualistic rock that somehow straddles the moat between forlorn pastoral vibes and grim urban realms.” – The Stranger
“[They] do brooding, monolithic, and mystical like no one else, crafting out sand dried sonic psalms that howl like youthful godspeed ghost riders.” – The Sunday Experience
“Their music is both earthy and abstract, ancient and timeless. They truly opened a portal, infusing the blue-lit room with otherworldly vibes; slightly spooky, completely sublime.” – The Drainage
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