#Gillian Stone

[lillysilverus]

[thepermanentrainpress]

GILLIAN STONE: SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS

Spirit Photographs – Gillian Stone Release Date: November 18th, 2022

Track Listing:

1. June 2. Amends 3. Raven’s Song 4. Solitude 5. The Throne

Gillian Stone’s Spirit Photographs is sonically and spiritually stunning. A beautiful and meaningful conceptualization of the grief journey. Stone’s pristine and ethereal vocals carry the project calmly through emotional waters. She is a natural storyteller, crafting lyrics that simultaneously feel light and cut to the core.

Described as post-rock and drone folk, the album glides through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Specifically, the album was inspired by Stone’s experience with a mental health disability, along with spirit photography, an art form popularized during the Spanish Flu to see remnants of lost loved ones behind a portrait subject.

“June” is steady and peaceful. Acoustic strings resonate alongside slow, echoing drums. The track conveys a feeling of exhaustion, while at the same time touting a new beginning and the shedding of heaviness. Lyrics speak of rebuilding amidst devastation: “I dropped off the weight and grew / away from the wall to the west of you / I smelled like truth and your shampoo / in the warmth of the pavement in June.”

Sadness and pain erupt in “Amends.” A toxic hold spilling out through the lyrics: “In my 20’s / filled with piss and pining / filled with limerence and grieving.” Regret and humiliation permeate under angelic vocal harmonies and intensifying guitar melodies. “I felt you under my breath / growling, mewling in my chest.”

“Raven’s Song” is haunting and dark. Natural lyrics, ritualistic singing and deliberately minimal drums soak in suspense. Occasional strums and clashes of sound accompany a desperate and self-destructive hope: “I will drown in the river to snuff its life / Drowning in the river to stay alive.”

To symbolize the depression stage, Stone includes a graceful rendition of Black Sabbath’s “Solitude.” Electric notes slowly confront inner-judgement: “The world is a lonely place – you’re on your own / Guess I will go home – sit down and moan / Crying and thinking is all that I do.” The negative rumination and self-awareness encapsulate the feeling of never-ending despair.

“The Throne,” which is the last song on the album, represents acceptance. The light of healing after overwhelming anguish. Fast-paced drums and Stone’s powerful, crystal-clear vocals build up to a beautiful release. Lyrics reflect on a new evolution: “I love him, oh I love him / I kissed him round the ankles / I nuzzled at his skirts / as he pulled me from the sea.” With hindsight, the struggle and suffering morphs into personal growth.

Written by: Jenna Keeble

Spirit Photographs by Gillian Stone

[imathers]

Top 5 EPs: Gillian Stone — Spirit Photographs

I really love the EP form, and in a slightly different way than I love short LPs. I don’t think I have any hard and fast rules about the distinction, it’s more a vibe thing. But a good EP... effervescent. I don’t know how much they get made these days, but every year I tend to run into at least a couple of great ones. Today I’m running down 5 that caught my attention in 2022.

I actually only heard about Gillian Stone, and attended the EP release show for her Spirit Photographs EP, because Picastro were playing as well (and more on them later today). This is actually a case where I recommend reading the blurb at the bandcamp page, but basically it’s a “post-rock/drone folk” cycle about processing mental illness via the five stages Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes people with terminal illness going through. You don’t need that context to enjoy the five songs, but it certainly brings some interesting context to it. Live Stone and her band were great too, and given this was just after Mimi Parker died, opening with a (great) Low cover was a hugely moving moment for me. “The Throne” (above) is definitely the most aggressive track on the EP (over the Sabbath cover, even!) and so is in one sense a bit misleading, but I love the climax of the song too much to not pick it here.

[philbins]

Gillian Anderson photographed by Mark Seliger for Rolling Stone magazine, February 1997.

[xfiles4xphiles]

David & Gillian. Rolling Stone, 1996

[mindibindi]

David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson | Outtakes from Rolling Stone shoot (1996)

[is-on-its-way]

[thena0315]

SVU's Prosecutors from the Last 25 Years

[myastoned]

in a worse life cersei lannister would be the protagonist of a Gillian Flynn novel

[carrie11]

Source

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A post shared by Angelo Vacco (@mylifeonxfiles)

[lana0605]

My favorite looks from Golden Globes 2024 red carpet (part 2)

[celebratingwomen]

Gillian Anderson as Morticia Addams photographed for Rolling Stone Magazine, 1997

[musicmags]

[c0v3rag3]

Gilian Anderson.

[xfiles4xphiles]

David & Gillian...