Cortége Premiere “Chasing Daylight (Part 1)” from Chasing Daylight
Austin-based duo Cortége are set to release their new EP, Chasing Daylight, through Desert Records on Feb. 26. Comprised just of its two-part title-track, it’s their first offering through the label and the follow-up to 2019’s Capricorn (discussed here), which, like several of the band’s outings, skimmed the line between EP and full-length. Chasing Daylight, running 16-plus minutes, makes it somewhat easier.
It feels cliché almost to the point of rudeness to call Cortége‘s style “cinematic.” But there it is. Sorry. On a level of observational depth, you might as well call it “sound.” Cinematic is the point. I don’t think you break out the tubular bells unless you’re going for a particular kind of atmosphere, and Chasing Daylight indeed nails that atmosphere, with the first of its two parts shorter at 7:22, but reaching voluminous heights and almost minimalist lows in a sprawl that’s vaguely Western with the ringing guitars, but nonetheless carries an undercurrent of l0w-end synth that gives the central procession of the rhythm — 
slow, slow, slow in patient form from a band who’s done this before — a particularly foreboding feel that’s also vaguely futuristic.
The Morricone of Tomorrow, Today? Maybe, but there’s more going on than just that as “Chasing Daylight (Part 1)” surges to its finish and the opening melody of “Chasing Daylight (Part 2)” nearly veers into “Silent Night” as it unfurls. The synth, initially more forward, recedes behind the guitar line that in another context would recall Bell Witch, and Cortége make their way into an even more barren stretch, barely keeping time with bells and drums likeminded in their funereal vibe. The payoff is ambient, more drift than burst, and that’s just fine as the hypnotic aspect of all that lurch would feel cheap if they swapped in a big finish for its own sake. As it is, “Chasing Daylight,” the whole work, almost seems to ask for a third part, the brevity of the two pieces included here leaving room to be expanded upon.
Whether or not that’s something Cortége have in mind, of course I’ve no idea. You can stream “Chasing Daylight (Part 1)” below, and for being (roughly) half of the total outing, it gives a sense of what the two-piece are up to with the EP, and where they might head from here.
Please enjoy:
PRE-ORDER: https://cortege.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-daylight
Post-Western, heavy ambient doom duo Cortége has signed to New Mexico’s Desert Records. The label will release the band’s new EP Chasing Daylight February 26, 2021 on CD and digital formats.
Recorded, mixed and mastered in the fall of 2020 with Jeff Henson (DUEL) at Red Nova Ranch in Austin, Texas, Chasing Daylight is a cinematic, chrome tinged portrait du temps for the end of the world as well as a musical foreshadowing of things to come. Lush arrangements wind through the familiar Cortége territories of drone, prog, doom, western and ambient soundscapes with a few surprises therein, including a guest appearance from Michael St. Claire on brass.
Album cover art comes courtesy of Steven Yoyada.
Cortége are:
Mike Swarbrick: Bass VI, Moog, Mellotron, Tubular Bells
Adrian Voorhies: Drums
Desert Records on Thee Facebooks
Tags: Austin, Chasing Daylight, Cortége, Cortége Chasing Daylight, Desert Records, Texas
