Terrorbird

To briefly describe Vieo Abiungo’s second full-length album, And the World is Still Yawning, presents a bit of challenge. Perhaps the album is better explained through metaphor. And the World… pits two opposing themes or forces squarely at odds with each other. It’s as if it were the lost score for the Genesis, or alternately an epic tale of man versus his underlying destructive nature. Sure that’s heavy, and so is this music. This is no funeral dirge, though. It is a gorgeous wordless opera of sorts, at times head-noddingly rhythmical and dense, filled with bright visceral melodies, and at others, slowly paced, dark and introspective. The beauty and genius are found in the rapid emotional shifts and absolutely innovative style in which this album commands attention.

Inspired by recent collisions of our manufactured infrastructure/lifestyle and inexorable forces of nature, And The World Is Still Yawning pits repetitive and recognizable structures found in popular music against spectral string compositions and thundering, otherworldly percussion; the album takes you from the complacent comforts of modernity to the fever pitch of cataclysm and back.

William Ryan Fritch (aka Vieo Abiungo) has had many a title presented before his name. Fritch’s almost blinding list of accomplishments and abilities range from the dozens of films he has scored, heralding awards from Cannes to SXSW to the albums he has arranged and produced for a wide range of bands and solo artists, most notably being one of the highly innovative arrangers/composers for Sole and The Skyrider Band.

In 2010, Fritch brought his own solo efforts to the forefront, writing, arranging, and composing from start to finish two commanding full-length albums. Debuting under his Vieo Abiungo alias, Fritch’s first solo album, Blood Memory, showcased a bold display of his omni-instrumental prowess. The genre-agnostic results weave a kind of imagined Africa together with equally chimerical folk and art music. It was the type of album that would be equally welcome at a village wedding, funeral or ritual bloodletting as well as at a Village loft or art gallery. Fritch also released an epic and colorful palette of film-based work that year, titled Music For Honey And Bile, under his own name for Sufjan Steven’s Asthmatic Kitty imprint.

Strange and non-linear, exotic and alive: Fritch's idiosyncratic orchestration and wide range of instrumentation provides the album with a surreal sense of looseness and unpredictability that is anchored just frequently enough by instinctive rhythms and succinct melodies. The music from And the World is Still Yawning is bound together by an uncommon, naturalistic energy allowing pieces of both great exuberance and palpable melancholy to flow seamlessly into one another. Mastered by the infamous Miles Whittaker (Demdike Stare), the latest Vieo Abiungo album is dark, bold, and beautiful music. It stands alone.

And The World Is Still Yawning will be released August 30th, 2011 on Lost Tribe Sound on 180gram vinyl with a digital download. There will be a deluxe version of the album available featuring bonus tracks as well featuring remixes from Joan Jeanrenaud (Kronos Quartet), Benoit Pioulard, Sven Kacirek, and many more.

Established in early 2010, Lost Tribe Sound has quickly garnered respect in underground communities worldwide for its unparalleled mesh of styles including lo-fi, traditional folk, classical and ethnic instrumentation, minimalism, found sound, digital and analog production. LTS’s main objective is to produce music that is heartfelt, honest, and innovative. Hopefully in doing so, new worlds are brought to light where forest floors creak to life, and the dusted musical archives of long erased cultures are unearthed. In just over a years time, Lost Tribe Sound has amassed a solid roster of artists from around the globe, and has released six full-length albums.