released September 21, 2021

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

If you saw Pillars and Tongues perform anytime during 2008 - 2010, the set you heard was likely comprised of two long songs. They are called “Great / Most Secret” and “The Miracle.”

Recorded in 2009 upon returning to Chicago from a lengthy tour with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, these two songs were meant to follow-up their 2010 album, "Lay of Pilgrim Park" (Empty Cellar). But, as fate would have it, for various reasons the tracks were shelved.

In a certain sense, almost nothing Pillars and Tongues made together other than these songs matters nearly as much as these songs. They called them, at various times, “the balm songs” and “the blood songs.”

They now have no certain memory of how the songs came together. They just played and played until they came, singing and playing together many hours a week in living rooms and community centers in New Mexico and in the old wire factory in Chicago and big, old theaters in western Canada, and art galleries and coffee shops and bars in the plains and along both coasts. They played them in French theaters and in Spanish bars and Portuguese castles. And then they played them in a big room with big windows in Chicago, during a thunderstorm, and producer Mike Usrey captured it.

These two songs drove for a long time. Then they laid low for a long while. And now they are here. Why now? We have no idea. This coincides with nothing in particular, proceeds from nothing in particular. These songs come now. It is just time.


Praise for Pillars and Tongues releases:

" . . . dazzling sonic edifices that reward patient listening, even as the band defies easy categorization, unless you're looking in that bin marked "essential." - Chicago Tribune

"Close to nothing contemporary, a truly outstanding piece of sonic art." - No Fear of Pop

"[A] bizarre slew of haltering ’n faltering wilderness drone ballads [. . .]" - Julian Cope

"In the best moments, the spiritualism seems to barely camouflage a deep chasm of sexuality and animosity." - Windy City Rock

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credits
released September 21, 2021

Orphanology / Bluesanct (ORPHAN00P, 21 Sept 2021)
• (C-36) = ltd to 50 copies
• DIGITAL = unlimited

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PILLARS AND TONGUES

A - great / most secret
B - the miracle


( evan hydzik ) vocals, upright bass, bells

vocals, violin, bells ( beth remis )

( mark trecka ) vocals, percussion, bells


music written and arranged by pillars and tongues
words written by mark trecka
except "there is a balm in gilead" (traditional)

recorded surreptitiously at av - aerie, chicago
april 2009 by mike ursey and evan hydzik

mastering by michael anderson

artwork by madeline johnston

a day2 alliance product, 2021