All heavy with warmth & mystery, Ulaan Khol returns with another round of vertical incantations aimed at the heavens. As Ulaan Khol, Steven R. Smith (Hala Strana, Thuja, Mirza) creates dense tapestries that revel in the eternal and infinite. The bursts of tones & grip on formal structures can compare to the best of Hototogisu or Handful of Dust, though filtered through an ample dose of Ash Ra Tempel.
Supreme while discreet, these songs carry a sense of unnerving calm and optimistic gloom, often within a single composition. Swaths of heavy feedback cascade against sinister organ workouts & varied percussion that’s at times pounding, and at others distant. Throughout, Smith’s works emerge as vessels of possibility, exploratory rituals of hope.
Under the Ulaan Khol banner, Smith has planned a maximalist three-part suite, 'Ceremony.' Following the cryptic first installment, II shines with hazy, rolling atmospheric works that drift and shift with ease. Riding a crumbling riff into oblivion, Ulaan Khol's II emanates with the gleam of pure white light. |
