Photo by Marc Santo
Waning Hymns is the forthcoming new full-length from doom folk collective GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE, now set for release on July 31st 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.
In advance of the record’s release, BrooklynVegan is pleased to unveil the band’s visual accompaniment to “Volition.” Comments the band’s M. Sauder, “Using long musical passages and drawn out changes, this song is a deliberate challenge to our current culture’s dwindling attention spans. There is so much information being thrown at us every day, we are slowly losing our sense of self and our ability for critical thinking.”
View GEIST & THE SACRED ENSEMBLE’s “Volition” video, now playing at BrooklynVegan, at THIS LOCATION.
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.
“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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