Biography
"With just three members, Pillars and Tongues manages to craft powerful folk abstractions and interwoven, trance-inducing vocal dynamics. Both composed and improvisational, these shifting forms evoke spiritual vibes in their soulful essence, heavenly harmonies, and repeated patterns."-Alarm Magazine, "This Weeks Best Albums"Pillars and Tongues is a trio whose musical pursuits seem to defy genre categorization. The ongoing result of these pursuits has been called, variously, "holy" and "sexy" and it may well be the tension between these two concepts which lights the fire under (over?) Pillars and Tongues. Think on those things which are so beautiful they become obscene. Speaking literally, the group makes use of the human voice, violin, double bass, drums, bells and keyboards. The music is perhaps distinctly American in both its affair with American forms and its refusal to adhere to them at all.The trio has performed over 250 concerts in the past three years throughout the U.S., Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. They have toured with Bonnie "Prince" Billy and have at other times shared the stage with Dirty Three + Nick Cave, Bill Callahan, Daniel Higgs, Sir Richard Bishop, etc. There are full-length releases on: Empty Cellar Records, Contraphonic, Lotus Sound and Featherspines."Recording much of their material live, their antecedents are as modern as drone and as old as early American folk, though with the latter they're often stretching the definition of the genre. . . . it's hard to believe Lay of Pilgrim Park is the work of just three people in the same room, and their roles are so fluid it's hard to pick out where one member's contributions start and another ends. The album's abrupt changes, deliberate silences, and movements rather than verses and choruses feel almost more classical than folk (or jazz, or indie, or anything else they might be considered). . . . a tightly focused album-length piece"-Jason Crock, PitchforkÂ
