The Long Hunt Premiere “The Tower” Video; Threshold Wanderer Out April 1
Pittsburgh instrumentalists The Long Hunt release their second album, Threshold Wanderer, on April 1. And it’s more than an album as well, since guitarist Trevor Richards apparently taught himself 3D animation in order to tell an accompanying visual story in a short film that coincides with the six tracks of the release. “The Tower” (video premiering below) is the point at which the record begins to unfold, with the subdued “Prelude” setting a mood for two minutes before. It introduces the natural distortion and subtle noise vibe behind the riffs, like if earlier Mastodon slowed down to take a breath, and the brightness of the crash cutting through the density of the tones. The three-piece made their debut with 2018’s All Paths Lead to Here and are veterans of the Descendants of Crom festival in their hometown. Threshold Wanderer, as it happens, probably should’ve come out around the time they would’ve played that fest for the second time, in October 2020.
Clearly that didn’t happen — the release or the event — but one could hardly argue The Long Hunt didn’t make the best of their time. Drawing on visual elements both organic and otherworldly, the accompanying videos are a fitting match for songs like “The Golden Bough,” with its subtle Earth influence met by sunshine, a three-eyed deer, or the subsequent 12-minute “Night Falls on Black Wings” with its journey into aural and visual space. Dragons, the whole nine. It’s an immersive multimedia experience that 
continues as “Crossing the River” courses through post-rock and heavy psychedelic drift and closer “Procession of Dust,” with the flapping raven wings at outset, reminds distinctly of the semi-animated album-video Neurosis put out over 20 years ago for A Sun That Never Sets. As the also-12-minute finale plays out, our evolved protagonist — the aforementioned three-eyed deer — is bathed in light like something out of 2001 and there’s fire, chaos and noise and I’m not really sure what the aftermath is but that’s probably the point. In any case, feedback.
Trevor Richards, bassist Allison Kacmar Richards and drummer Mark Lyons will be back at Descendants of Crom this June 3-4, and since Threshold Wanderer will be out by then, it’s a symmetry of happenstance that somehow makes sense considering the breadth, atmosphere and sense of exploration in the music of these songs. As they’re reportedly no strangers to live projections and such, it doesn’t seem unlikely that either at the fest or at some point thereafter, The Long Hunt would perform with Richards‘ animations accompanying. It all ties together, you see. Impressively. But for that, one feels obligated to point out that while the band’s intent may have always been to complement the audio, it was in fact that audio that came first, and “The Tower” speaks to that with its musical prominence, and the manner in which the video builds off the rhythm and mood of the track with which it’s paired.
Though “Prelude” is the actual entry point to the album, consider the clip for “The Tower” below something of an introduction as well, since it’s the beginning of the actual story that takes place throughout. Musically, it not necessarily tell you everything you need to know about Threshold Wanderer‘s more progressive-tinged intentions, but it’s a place to start. The place, actually. And I promise you, I promise, I promise, I did not know there was a big obelisk shooting lasers into space when I booked this premiere. I promise.
Preorder link and more info follows the video below.
Please enjoy:
The Long Hunt, “The Tower” video premiere
Digitally Pre-save ‘Threshold Wanderer’ now: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thelonghunt/threshold-wanderer
‘Threshold Wanderer’ is the newest album by the Pittsburgh-based instrumental trio The Long Hunt, following 2017’s ‘Wilderness Tales’ EP and 2018’s ‘All Paths Lead to Here’ full-length.
In contrast to the dry minimalism and sparse textures that defined the first two records, the songs on ‘Threshold Wanderer’ are often lush, dense, and verdant. Musical styles range from post-rock to post-metal, heavy psychedelic, doom, drone, and even a few hints of prog and classic rock. ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is all about musical exploration and traveling between worlds.
The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the first quarter of 2020, with the intent to release it later that year. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the global pandemic, those plans were unfortunately shelved. Not to be deterred by events beyond their control, the band soldiered on behind the scenes.
After a three-month crash course in 3D modeling, using open-source animation software Blender, guitarist Trevor Richards embarked on the monumental task of writing and animating an album-length music video. Eight months and over 1000 hours of work later, the accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ was born.
Expanding on the band’s frequent use of archetypal themes such as nature, life, death, and rebirth, the music video for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ is an epic story-driven visual experience set to the music of The Long Hunt.
Bookending two years of anticipation, the band will release both the album and accompanying music video/short film for ‘Threshold Wanderer’ on Friday, April 1, 2022.
Upcoming Live Shows:
June 3-4 @ Descendants of Crom IV, Pittsburgh, PA
THE LONG HUNT is:
Trevor Richards: Guitars
Allison Kacmar Richards: Bass
Mark Lyons: Drums
[…] since 2017’s Wilderness Tales EP and 2018’s All Paths Lead to Here full-length. Following the previous single, “The Tower,” the band has dropped an incredible animated short film for the track “The […]