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Bathed In Sunlight is the breatakingly beautiful new full length from the longrunning Denver drone ensemble Encomiast, featuring five lengthy tracks of instrumental bliss from Ross Hagen and company that bring together slowly drifting drones speckled with shifting layers of angelic female vocal harmonies, lilting Loveless-esque melodies, ominous ambience floating over simple hand drum rhythms, dramatic dark pop with strummed acoustic guitars and Ross' deep crooning vocals...and more of the ghostly flute playing that has always set Encomiast apart from the rest of the drone/ambient underground. Fans of Encomiast's previous releases are going to be surprised when they hear songs like "Laughter In The Storm" , whose droning psychedelic folk is unlike anything that Ross has done before, a thoroughly entracing combination of droning electronics and brooding acoustic strum. And then there's the stunning finale "Evergreen", opening with gently acoustic guitar swimming in delay before a gorgeous female voice enters under a slight veil of distortion, like she's singing from the other end of a long distance phone call, the distortion then lifting revealing her voice in perfect clarity. A simple but perfect effect. The melody in this song is likewise simple but perfect, a melancholy hook that is gradually joined by drums and electronic drones as the song evolves, turning into a amazing piece of dreamy ambient post-rock pop. Fans of Encomiast's previous droneworks and the kind of evocative ambient rock that Temporary Residence is known for will LOVE Bathed In Sunlight, which travels the luminescent ley lines between ambient dronescapes, folk music, and post-rock.
The packaging for this release is pretty damn great, if I do say so myself, with mysterious images and artwork provided by Ross presented in a labor-intensive hand-sewn heavy paper sleeve designed by us at Crucial Blast (in the same style as the Havens disc), and released in a limited edition of 200 copies.
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