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DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS - Lost in Reflections

Format: LP & 7
Label & Cat.Number: Ideal Rec. / Fangbomb / Release The Bats / When Skies Are Grey iDEAL060 / FB008 / RTB No. 42 / WSAG No. 21
Release Year: 2009
Note: impressive release of Gothenburg-based dark ambient / isolationism project; lim. 500
Price (incl. 19% VAT): €16.00
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Das von uns schon lange vertriebene schwedische Projekt mit seinem "Masterpiece", über die Jahre gereift zu einem sehr guten "Experimental / Isolationist Drone"-Projekt mit eigenem Stil. Die meist gitarrenbasierten Stücke sind dunkel und pulsierend, ein low-fi Rauschen ist omnipräsent und verleiht eine einsame Atmosphäre. Der Mann hinter DEAD LETTERS verarbeitet mit dieser Musik seine Erfahrungen mit einer Borderline-Diagnose...

"As Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Gothenburg based composer and sound artist Thomas Ekelund has delved into a time-consuming investigation of the complex, multi-faceted world of solitude and introspective darkness. His pallet is strictly greyscale, but the tones he uses are deeper, more honest and more heartfelt than anything else Out there. 'Lost in Reflections' is Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words' fourth main album and his definite masterpiece so far. Here, hurt is transformed into absolute beauty. And here, dampened drones make pop art. This, in the words of Thomas Ekelund himself, is how the album came abOut: Eighteen months ago I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a both vile and many-faced disease that inevitably drapes every aspect of life in shadows that range from shades of grey to coal black. It causes a polarity of mind, everything is either or, never in between. It makes you feel isolated and alone even in the most crowded rooms. Slowly this imagined isolation becomes a real isolation. You do not allow anyone inside the carefully constructed walls, built stone by stone by a mind so completely preoccupied with guilt and shame that you in fact become unhuman (sic). An empty shell containing oozing, black bile and nothing else. You become the disease. I never look into mirrors unless it's absolutely necessary. Because I don't see the reflection of man, I see a specter, a phantasm, a distorted human-like figure to which I can't relate. I never look into the eyes of anyone I talk to because I am terrified that they will see the same apparition. I try to achieve invisibility, but in lack of that I hide my true appearance behind meticulously molded masks. Eighteen months ago, 'Lost in Reflections' was already half a year old. Still it deals with the above mentioned disease and some of the aspects of it. Its strange how the mind can be so aware and unaware at the same time. Now it's two years later. And though I in some ways have a better grasp of my ailment I am nowhere near being rid of it. Most of the time I feel suspended, as if I was waiting for some great revelation of thruth, a stroke of magic that will transform me into someone like you. The person you see in the mirror. A human. It has taken me two years to come to terms with this album. It's in many ways my most accessible work to date, but in other ways my most difficult and demanding. I can't listen to it objectively. In fact I have a hard time listening to it at all." [label info]

"Recorded at the end of 2005 and first quarter of 2006 just after he was diagnosed with a potentially debilitating mental illness, Ekelund chose to look deep into the shadows and describe what he found through meticulously constructed soundscapes. A mix of dark ambient and experimental electronic music, Ekelund's music vividly portrays a dark, lonely existence in what can be a vast, empty world. As the layers build and soar in, out and through the mix, the heavily emotive mix of tones depicts a solitary figure fighting to make sense of the world around him. Starting out like the soundtrack to the coolest of modern westerns, "This Room Seems Empty Without You" sets the scene gently, acting as an introduction to the rest of the tracks on the album. Intensely personal and intimate, each track bears the gentle tones and melodies of a figure deep in thought, perhaps troubled and fighting with their emotions, desperately trying to regain control. Sparse guitar work adds emotion and feeling to layers of hazy droning sound with tiny almost unnoticed sounds adding an air of intimacy and presence. The further it progresses the deeper Ekelund descends into the uneasy darkness until we reach the epic 19 minute finale of "Himmelschriebenden Herzen", a truly epic track resplendent with layered drones, martial drums, soaring guitar tones and an orchestral backing. "Lost In Reflections" is an intense voyage into the psyche of a man with a story to tell." [Side-Line]

For years now, the cryptically (and coolly) monickered Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words has been quietly and consistently releasing some of the most haunting and beautiful minimal dronemusic we've heard, a blend of soft skittery glitch, brooding guitar loops,
deeeeeep drone, dreamy drift, and experimental post-everything soundscaping, that is as good if not better than anything produced by
the legion of overhyped sound makers constantly fawned over by the public and press alike. We've only managed to review two DLSODW
releases so far, both sadly out of print now, but the release of this new one, quite possibly his best, seemed like the perfect opportunity
to finally throw our weight behind Dead Letters, and hopefully open some ears to these mysterious and wondrous sounds, and reveal to the hordes of dronelords and free music freeks just what they've been missing." [Aquarius Records review]

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