#Communicating Vessels

[dustedmagazine]

The Church —The Hypnogogue (Communicating Vessels)

Photo by Hugh Stewart

“The Hypnogogue” flickers to life in a glittering lattice of guitars, 35 years on but not so different from the trebly foreboding heard in “Reptile” from the landmark Starfish. Steve Kilbey, the only continuing thread between then and now, remains unruffled and nonchalant, his voice shrouded in echoes, reverberating without apparent effort. “Remember the music pulled out of your head,” he breathes in a tone somewhere between a sigh and rafter-tickling anthemry, “Insulating guitars/Reptilian bass, the kick in your face/The snare in your heart.”

The Hypnogogue is the Church’s 26th album, and Kilbey has intimated that it may be the band’s last. It caps a remarkable career trajectory of a band that has always had one foot in the commercial mainstream and the other in an experimental underground. Of the large-scale arena rock icons, The Church has, perhaps, been the most consistent and least embarrassing. Kilbey and his ever-changing band of supporters have mostly avoided the awkward disco flirtations of U2, the brainless euphoria of Coldplay, the drunken idiocies of Oasis. They’ve continued, rather, to be the Church, a source of billowing, guitar-layered, epic drama that is almost never overblown.

Not that they don’t go right up to the edge of rock excess. This album, for instance, follows a narrative arc borrowed from speculative fiction. It’s loosely organized around the story Eros Zeta, the biggest rock star of 2054. To rekindle flagging creative power, Zeta travels to the Hypnogogue, a shadowy interstice between sleeping and waking states. There’s a love interest and climate disaster. It ends badly. It’s complicated. But the good news is that you can have a perfectly enjoyable time listening to The Hypnogogue without knowing any of this.

The tracks are a bit spotty, starting very strong with the epically chilly “Ascendence” and the drum-machined, guitar-splintered “C’est La Vie,” both quite stirring and without bloat. But it dips considerably in the next two tracks, the flabby, generic “I Think I Knew” and the piano ballad “Flickering Lights.” Seriously, every time I come to these tracks, I think, wait, do I really like this record?

But then the title track comes with its instantly recognizable but in no way derivative Church sound and all is well again. Other late-album highlights include “No Other You,” with its warm vintage 1970s guitar solo and its yearning-turns-to-triumphant melodic line, and especially “Antarctica” all spidery guitars and surging, clangorous drum lines.  

The Hypnogogue is anything but minimalist. It starts with a big concept, adds dramatic, room-filling rock arrangements and extends for over an hour. And yet, there are very few intervals where you wonder if things might have been better if they were shorter or more pared back. The Church is going out with a bang, not a whimper, and we’re lucky to be here to hear it.

Jennifer Kelly

[sinceileftyoublog]

The Church Album Review: The Hypnogogue

(Communicating Vessels)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The Church’s 26th album (and first in 6 years) is, strangely, their first concept record. You’d think the Australian greats’ dreamy, neo psychedelia would be perfect to soundtrack tunes with a narrative arc; alas, this is Steve Kilbey’s first foray into more literal musical storytelling. Yet, he smartly keeps it vague, and secondary to the music itself. The plot is futuristic: A rock star in the 2050s falls in love with a scientist who invents the titular Hypnogogue, a device that pulls thoughts out of your head and makes them into music. Is it a ham-fisted analogy for AI art? Perhaps. But the plot is an effective symbol for being lost in the dream, the limbo between slumber and wide-eyed beginnings that music can achieve. “Remember the music pulled out of your head / Piano trickling into the cans,” Kilbey sings on the title track, “Insulating guitars, reptilian bass / Kick in your face, the snare in your heart.” Flickering guitars make the song epic without being showy, a self-reflexive microcosm of The Hypnogogue as a whole.

In essence, The Hynogogue is a tribute to the sensations we hold most dear. “Your ascension, your reward,” Kilbey repeats on opening track “Ascendence”, showcasing the prototypical buildup of whirring, warbling noise, atmospheric guitars and arpeggiated, chiming synths. On the pulsating, glassy “These Coming Days”, he describes “The wallpaper at your favorite café / The paper flowers in the kitchen / The aromatic pines, the rambling vines” as if they themselves are what bring us life. If the album’s world occupies our worst nightmares, where the intangible can become computerized, humanism replaceable, the band smartly argues against it by creating beauty out of nostalgic sounds. Kilbey’s always Bowie-esque croon is the perfect match for the “All The Young Dudes” guitars of “No Other You”, and his muted vocal overdubs on “Succulent”, atop wobbling synthesizers and stadium-sized guitars, recall Pink Floyd at their headiest. And the sway of “I Think I Knew” and jangly guitars of “C’est La Vie” are The Church at their most beatific and catchy, a straight line from “Under The Milky Way” until now.

At over an hour and most of its songs slow burns, The Hypnogogue is an album that requires patience, but its rewards, sonic and otherwise, are plentiful. “Everyone must want something,” Kilby sighs on “Albert Ross”, and whether that’s the glacial thumps of “Thorn” and “Antarctica” or the baroque melancholy of “Aerodrome”, there are feelings here to occupy every corner of your heart.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: The Church Shares Haunting and Dream-like Visual for "Realm of Minor Angels"

New Video: The Church Shares Haunting and Dream-like Visual for "Realm of Minor Angels" @thechurchband @commvess @reybee @stevekilbey

Founded back in 1980, the Sydney-based ARIA Hall of Fame inductees The Church — currently founding member Steve Kilbey (vocals, bass, guitar); longtime collaborator and producer Tim Powles (drums), who joined the band in 1994 and has contributed to 17 albums; Ian Haug (guitar), a former member of Aussie rock outfit Powderfinger, who joined the band in 2013; multi-instrumentalist Jeffery Cain, a…

[bubba-draws]

Why can I see Radi! Hollow dressing Ghost up in cute outfits?

Not canon to the AU but the idea of Hollow treating Ghost like a small purse chihuahua couldn't escape my mind ASDFASDFASFASDF

[sleepanonymous]

I wanted to post this here because it's very important to signal boost things like this, no matter how small of a gesture they seem.

[maxphilippa]

made a fucked up and evil ver of heart locket aka vessel

[rochenn]

ngl every time i see an anti codywan post it's either someone malding bc it's a "new" ship getting popular very quickly or they imply that codywan enjoyers don't actually care abt cody and only use him as a ken doll for obi-wan to be gay with. like idk buddy both of those sound like skill issues 🤨

"their power dynamics and moral codes make the ship impossible" WRONG. that's what makes it tasty

[myth0mani-art]

This is very random but look at Vessel. Just.

Just look at him.

[discordiansamba]

Iroh truthfully does not know what to expect when he arrives on Ember Island. Lady Ursa's letter to him was clearly written hastily, as if she did not have time to dwell on her words... but its contents were enough that he cut his quest to find a way to the spirit world short and hurried home. He could not dwell on those gone when the living still needed him.

(Even if they were completely, utterly, irreplaceable.)

The servants who greeted him had pale, ashen faces. They looked uncertain about letting him in, but Iroh did not let them refuse him entry. He wasted no time in asking after Zuko, and the servants hurriedly told him that the boy was unwell, and was not taking visitors at the moment. Please, if he could just leave-

Iroh did not listen to them.

He knew where to find Zuko's room, and made his way there. He arrived to find the doors bolted shut, as if they had locked the young prince inside. A sense of foreboding crept down the retired general's spine, but he set himself to the task of removing the lock. He swung the door open- but sensed the prudence of closing it behind him.

The first thing that greeted him was the odor.

Then it was the sound.

It was a low, rumbling growl- Iroh followed its source until his eyes landed on his nephew. He did not recognize the boy at first- and he suspected that the feeling was likely mutual. He had made a nest for himself out of torn blankets in one corner of the room, a pair of wings that could only belong to a dragon splayed in a fashion meant to intimidate. His face was morphed into a snarl, fangs bared as he crouched low.

(He did not need the gashes in the walls and the furniture to know how dangerous the claws his nephew had grown were.)

Ursa's letter had informed him that Zuko's body had been taken by a vengeful spirit. She had not mentioned that the spirit was a dragon.

Iroh drew in and let out a deep breath to steady himself. First, he needed to determine if his nephew was still in there. He bowed to the dragon, low and respectful, keeping his voice perfectly level as he greeted it. It watched him warily from his nephew's eyes- it did not cease its growling, but its posture relaxed somewhat.

Then Iroh sat on the floor and waited.

The dragon watched him closely- it stayed away at first, but eventually, it slowly rose. It stalked around him in a circle, its movements awkward, still unused to having a human vessel. Iroh let it draw closer on its own pace, letting it grow used to his presence. It sniffed at him, growling low in its throat once it did.

Iroh kept his breathing steady, and did not allow himself to be intimidated.

Eventually it drew close, mere inches away from his face. Iroh slowly lifted a hand, making sure to telegraph every move. He placed it carefully on the dragon's stolen face, his fingers brushing over the patch of scales that had overtaken the left half of his nephew's face.

The dragon went still.

"Zuko," Iroh spoke, "-do you remember me? I am your Uncle Iroh. You used to sit with me by the turtleduck pond and drink tea."

The dragon's brow furrowed, searching his face. It reached out a hand, mimicking Iroh's action. He let it stroke his cheek, even as its claws drew thin cuts across his face. It leaned forward, sniffing him again, before it stared up at him like it did not know what to do with itself.

"Un...cle?"

"Yes," Iroh said, "-your uncle."

"Uncle," the dragon repeated, a glimmer of recognition in his eyes, "-uncle."

Iroh let out a long breath as his nephew threw himself at him. His claws dug into his back, but Iroh ignored the pain and returned the embrace. It did not matter- he could treat his injuries later. Far more important was the fact that his nephew was still with them, buried deep under the dragon that had taken his body.

He could not help Lu Ten... but he could help Zuko.

[sinceileftyoublog]

The Church Live Show Review: 11/1, Evanston SPACE

BY JORDAN MAINZER

I'll admit it: Thought I admire both their underrated back catalog and new concept album The Hypnogogue (Communicating Vessels), having never seen The Church, I was wary of Steve Kilbey's ability to weave AI-inspired futuristic concepts into the shimmery wistfulness of the band's old songs. Maybe this was the result of having spent so much time recently trying to place myself in the mind of another overly ambitious rock icon. And perhaps my thoughts were unfair considering The Hypnogogue is a cohesive-sounding front-to-back album, stellar independent of its story. But a part of me was nonetheless skeptical of the juxtaposition of heady slow burns with dream pop classics.

Well, immediately after finishing the building "Ascendence", Ian Haug and Ashley Naylor's siren-like guitars leading the way, Kilbey declared that the Australian band was "playing better than ever before," 26 gigs in a row be damned. Indeed, they were so fine-tuned--his perfectly yearning vocals on "Destination", touring drummer Nicholas Meredith's disco beat breakdown on "Metropolis"--that by the time he introduced the concept of The Hypnogogue on ballad "No Other You", you were too, well, hypnotized, by the stadium sounds emanating from a small stage, to take in the plot. Kilbey contextualized The Hypnagogue's songs within the album's universe whenever he introduced them, but he did so non-linearly, as if each song was its own vignette. "Flickering Lights" sees the narrator hearing a nostalgic song in a cab, represented live by Jeffrey Cain's washy synths and Haug and Naylor's chiming guitars. "Antarctica", meanwhile, is named after the motherland of the main character, and the band's Pink Floyd-like, deliberate, effects-heavy prog funk conjured the feeling of being so cold you can't think straight. "Albert Ross"'s namesake in the fictional world is a disappeared guitar tech, and what better way to pay tribute to the lost soul than for Kilbey to thank the band's road crew, especially because they had to bring a mandolin just for that song?

Of course, The Church's hits were highlights, from "Hotel Womb" and "Fly", both enveloped by voluminous synths, to a lounge-like version of "Under the Milky Way" and stomping "Grind". But I was blown away by many of their deep cuts. During a mid-concert mini acoustic set, they nailed "Old Coast Road", a gorgeously jangly highlight from 2014's Further/Deeper. Meredith's motorik drumming both propelled and offered a welcome contrast to the otherwise beatific "C'est La Vie". Kilbey's dry, spoken delivery on "Second Bridge" recalled the depth of Jarvis Cocker. And "Tantalized", sans the theatrical horns of its studio version, was a tried and true monochromatic banger, clattering drums and scratchy, early 80's-The Edge-like guitars splitting eardrums in a venue over four times smaller than the theaters The Church were playing earlier in the year.

Ask any casual music fan about The Church, and they'll think of the band who made "Under the Milky Way". It is a great song; the moment the synthetic guitar solo meant to sound like bagpipes comes in, is one of the greatest in 80's rock. I posit, though, that their best song is "Reptile", whose revolving Marty Willson-Piper riff is the earworm of all earworms. This lineup, along with appropriate green and orange strobe lighting, stuck the landing, the dual guitar interplay shining in a matchup of stop-start stabs behind Kilbey's whispered sneer of a vocal turn. It was the emotional climax of the show, prepping you for the all-out closing cacophony jam of "You Took", and one that reminded you that a band in their fifth decade sounds like they could share a stage with some of today's best post-punk bands, even if their sound is meant to evoke noises of the past.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: The Church Share Gorgeous and Trippy Visual for "No Other You"

New Video: The Church Share Gorgeous and Trippy Visual for "No Other You" @thechurchband @commvess @reybee

Founded back in 1980, the Sydney-based ARIA Hall of Fame inductees The Church — currently founding member Steve Kilbey (vocals, bass, guitar); longtime collaborator and producer Tim Powles (drums), who joined the band in 1994 and has contributed to 17 albums; Ian Haug (guitar), a former member of Aussie rock outfit Powderfinger, who joined the band in 2013; multi-instrumentalist Jeffery Cain, a…

[jayninjago]

Redo of my ninjago self insert/tournament sona^^ lore in tagsss

[foursaints]

how do you think barty crouch jr is responding to having to comfort someone? like pov gang is finding out some crazy devistating something is happening to someone, and now he has to play the role of the comforting and understanding best friend that gives you great advice.

like is he making awkward jokes the whole time and cringing at the awkward silence when the person doesnt laugh? is he giving the person a cigarette and a pat on the back and telling them life could be worse? is he literally covering his ears and pretending he didnt hear the issue?

like i couldn't imagine him just whipping out the most phenomenally improvised life lesson pep-talk ever to comfort his poor friend....but you never know, y'know?

i think this question is a good hypothetical because the slytherins were not raised in a capacity where any of them would EVER be vulnerable enough to seek comfort & advice from each other. so it's fun to contemplate....

i think barty specifically always operates on these two valences where he is BOTH hyper-competent when it comes to compartmentalizing feelings and Completing Tasks, AND able to do this while not actually caring whatsoever <- and this is a source of envy for the others, who want to do this but can't. i think regulus is able to resolve a lot of emotional crises (where he would otherwise need comfort) by seeing how little barty cares and emulating it

but i actually COULD imagine barty whipping out the most phenomenally improved pep-talk ever, actually. barty is good at knowing what people need to hear & how to say it, but whether he genuinely believes what is telling them is a MUCH different story.

i also think his tendency when someone close to him asks for comfort is to offer sex. this is also meaningless, but he has a pathology where he conflates any feelings of warmth or friendship (scary) with sex (guy who is so so ran-through) and i think this leads to the trope of all his friends carelessly fucking him when they are having any emotional crisis whatsoever. he's the one offering.

he'll probably dutifully blow their back out without thinking much about it, give them earth-shattering emotionally intelligent advice afterwards (super casually, but hollow. he is not taking this advice himself ever) and then you don't see him for a few days. he goes quiet. Barty's Dick Works Therapy Magic, Etc. Because He's There And He's Always Willing And It Will Feel Good, Probably. He's Fine.

[dairyfreenugget]

(Alt text under read more)

I think "one or more of them is in danger or almost fucking dies, in the process discovering their child's impurity, and then after a lot of emotional turmoil they just pass the fuck out the second they're safe and calm again thanks to the awful, exhausting day they've had" is a scenario I write weirdly often for this messy as hell family

Anyway. Family cuddles. My babygirl is exhausted and deserves to be held for once

ID start: A black and white doodle of the Pale King, White Lady, and Pure Vessel from Hollow Knight as humans. The three of them are covered in bruises and scratches. They're sleeping in a pile of blankets with the Pure Vessel tucked in between their parents, with only their face showing. The Pale King is hugging them with both sets of his arms, his face buried in their hair, while the White Lady lays beside them with her arm drapped over the both of them and roots coiling around them. End ID.

[capybar00]

cat vessel be upon ye !!

i'll post slasher related things soon friends! i just need to let my sleep token hyperfixation do its thing

[phatcatphergus]

I love when Tubbo gets possessed by random godly beings and his friends just go with it and try to exploit it the best they can