Review & Full Album Premiere: Eagle Twin & The Otolith, Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 Split LP
[Click play above to stream Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 by Eagle Twin and The Otolith in its entirety. The split LP is out this Friday, Sept. 20, on Desert Records.]
With two different visions of ‘heavy’ meeting an expanded definition of ‘desert’ on Legends of the Desert Vol. 4, the ongoing Desert Records split series is something of a heady affair in concept, but once you put it on, I promise you none of that matters. Instead, where the listener’s focus is likely to be is on the tense, roiling crush of Eagle Twin‘s “Horn vs. Halo,” the first of just four tracks on the 39-minute LP shared with fellow Salt Lake City denizens The Otolith.
Each band presents two songs — one on either side of 11 minutes and one between eight and nine; neither is a stranger to working in longer forms — and the arrangement of them has it that the 11:39 “Horn vs. Halo” (both longest inclusion and opener; immediate points) and The Otolith‘s “Phosphene Dream” (10:49) both bookend the proceedings and provide the bulk of the outing itself, though that’s not to say either Eagle Twin‘s “Qasida of the Dark Dove” (8:28) or The Otolith‘s “Crossway” (8:53) is somehow lacking in presence or impact. Indeed, “Qasida of the Dark Dove” in its second half ends up in a twisting, writhing solo section that seems to be trying to pull itself free as it splits into angles and crash, guitarist Gentry Densley departing the central nod set to march by drummer Tyler Smith only to return with another gutted-out verse after, engrossing in volume and tone.
Eagle Twin‘s mountainous doom blues and The Otolith‘s violin-laced post-metallic expanses make a resounding pair. For the duo, it’s their first studio offering since 2018’s third full-length, The Thundering Heard (Songs of Hoof and Horn) (review here), while The Otolith — the lineup of vocalist/violinist Sarah Pendleton, violinist/vocalist Kim Cordray, guitarist/vocalist Levi Hanna, bassist/vocalist Matt Brotherton and drummer Andy Patterson, the latter of whom also recorded both bands at his The Boar’s Nest studio in SLC — arrive to the Legends series on the heels of their stunning 2022 debut LP, Folium Limina (review here), having emerged in 2019 following the breakup of members’ former outfit, SubRosa.
As a result of the fact that both bands recorded in the same place with the same producer, again, Patterson, the stark, vocal-topped crashes near the beginning of “Phosphene Dream,” given texture through the violins wistful, evocative melodies echoing out, feel kin to Eagle Twin in the setting of the split here, and though there marked differences between the guitar/drums duo and the string-inclusive five-piece, they share a penchant for massive underlying groove, and Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 takes shape around that center. As much as the differences in aesthetic and playing style between The Otolith and Eagle Twin are highlighted in the material, there’s a sense of joint intention throughout that would seem to be rare given that most splits don’t happen between acts from the same place or working in the same studio.
This only makes Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 more fluid as “Qasida of the Dark Dove” lumbers to its finish of low riffs and full-sounding crash and The Otolith‘s “Crossway” picks up with an initial shove before unfolding its rolling verse likewise leant flow and tension by the bowed strings as it moves through its early verses. The five-piece are well in their element as they move steadily through a quieter midsection and later explosive return, arranging melodic vocals from Pendleton and Cordray against the growls of Hanna and/or Brotherton, stately and consuming, somewhat in contrast to the rawer burl of Eagle Twin, but again, drawn together by the production and the general will toward aural heft. That is to say, each band is given a showcase for their craft and though they share some aspects, they also each make their own impression on the listener, whether that’s through arrangement or atmosphere.
Hearing it front to back — and it’s 2024, I think we can admit that while vinyl may be a dominant physical media, most people’s actual-listening happens digitally; if that’s saying the quiet part loud, fine — Eagle Twin and The Otolith complement each other more than they juxtapose, as the latter take ambience born out of Densely and Smith‘s guttural undulations and expand upon as though surfacing from underground and taking flight. Eagle Twin, then, are dug in, and their tracks offer the audience a chance to position themselves likewise, righteous stops and thuds in “Horn vs. Halo” topped by Densely‘s characteristically throaty vocals and wrought to a self-aware effect en route to a nod and stop at 5:15 from which the song resumes in furious fashion.
For their just-two-dudes makeup and the comparatively minimal guitar and drums in “Horn vs. Halo” and “Qasida of the Dark Dove,” their dynamic resonates through changes in volume and tempo, and the linear course they follow is a further parallel to The Otolith. As “Phosphene Dream” rises from its rumbling beginning of synth and bass or guitar (whichever it is) before the violins enter ahead of the first drum crashes, it too makes a stop in the middle, holding for a stretch of minimalist standalone guitar and backing wisps behind harmonized vocals. That this moment’s pause is (a:) not actually a pause, (b:) gorgeous and (c:) sad, won’t be a surprise to anyone who took on Folium Limina — if that’s not you, it’s not too late to do so — but the weight thrown in the crescendo, growls included, precedes the melancholic string-led finish with a grace that one can only hope foreshadows further progression to come as The Otolith continue their path and distinguish themselves from members’ previous work together as they inevitably will and already are.
So what do we learn? One might take comfort in finding out that six years after their last album, Eagle Twin have lost none of the force behind their take, and that two years on from their debut, The Otolith remain vivid and forward-thinking in their approach to steamrolling their listenership. There’s an entire separate essay to be (probably not) written as to the interplay of gender happening across the two sides, but these are welcome lessons, and Legends of the Desert Vol. 4 is not only a striking entry into the series that has already featured the likes of desert rock progenitors Fatso Jetson as well as Lord Buffalo, Dali’s Llama and others, but a new level for it in terms of conceptualism and profile, writing a new and increasingly complex legend and ultimately broadening what ‘desert’ means in a sonic context.
Tags: Desert Records, Eagle Twin, Eagle Twin The Otolith Legends of the Desert Vol. 4, Legends of the Desert, Legends of the Desert Vol. 4, Salt Lake City, The Otolith, Utah
