The underlying experimentalism of Venetian Veil‘s new single “The Lamb” is there in the foundation of the song’s dying-light ambience. A 15-years-running collaboration from Sacramento, California — Susan Hunt and Jim Willig, hi — they put atmosphere ahead of traditionalism throughout the impending The Lands of the Living and the Dead, which is more substantive in flow and makeup than an EP but perhaps less in runtime than one commonly expects a full album to be; though perhaps we can just call it a “release” and chalk up one more convention being thoughtfully thwarted.

Mood is the defining current in “The Lamb,” but there is percussive movement in a kind of linear build as well, peppered through with wistfully cinematic keyboard and a purposefully understated figure of electric guitar. There’s a lift to the end some of Hunt‘s lines that reminds of Patrick Walker on the last 40 Watt Sun, but that’s more likely sonic coincidence than any influence either way, the two parties operating in largely different spheres.

But “The Lamb” doesn’t necessarily speak for the entirety of The Lands of the Living and the Dead — out Nov. 11 on Dune Altar with vinyl to follow — as “Quiver” just before rests on electronic pulsations and finds Willig on lead vocals, opener “Asleep in the Land of the Living” starts the release with a threat of feedback and exploratory but not necessarily harsh guitar noise, and the later “Awake in the Land of the Dead” drones pastoral ahead of the soundtracky “Treeline” and the Badalamenti-style brood-gaze “Phantom,” a subsequent remix of which closes. Still, life is short and the dictates of promotion are such that (most of the time) one doesn’t actually put out an entire offering while announcing it, so here we are. “The Lamb” offers intrigue and mystique, and in that and its patience certainly represents the rest of what surrounds.

I’d advise finding out for your sweet self on the player below which is followed by the aforementioned release announcement.

Enjoy:

VENETIAN VEIL is a creative duo from Sacramento, California, who, over the course of the last decade, have released a string of EPs and albums exploring a vast array of dark and ethereal sounds.

Having already started playing together in 2007 in the experimental post-metal band (Waning), Jim Willig (Lament Cityscape, Audioemetic) and Susan Hunt began releasing music as Venetian Veil in 2010. From the gothic kosmische instrumentals of their Conjurings audio cassette series and live film scores, to their more song-oriented albums fusing ambient, goth, and shoegaze sounds, the band has actualized their own virtual world of sound: the sounds of sleep transmissions from the minds of another world.

With their upcoming mini-album THE LANDS OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, Venetian Veil weaves a tapestry of sound that could be described as minimilist-Morricone meets post-goth folk with the patience of Steve Von Till and the melancholic worldly beauty of Dead Can Dance. The album will enter the land of the living on 11.11.2022. Make a wish.

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Venetian Veil, Conjurings Vol. 3 (2022)

Tags: California, Dune Altar, Sacramento, The Lands of the Living and the Dead, Venetian Veil, Venetian Veil The Lands of the Living and the Dead

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