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Via Subterranea

by Trance To The Sun

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Pure Audio Treasure! The reunion album of Ingrid & Ashkelon. Recorded 2013-2016. With new member Daniel Henderson on drums. Mastered stunningly by Doug Krebs.

    Vocals: Ingrid Luna Blue
    Drum Kit: Daniel Henderson
    Erstwhile Elsewise Instruments: Ashkelon Sain
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The sleeve features artwork by Ingrid Luna Blue, graphic design by Ashkelon Sain, and band photography by Ken Barton. It makes a lovely addition to any collection. Sticker Included!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Via Subterranea via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 14 Trance To The Sun releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Venomous Eve (2021 Remaster), "Bloom Flowers, Bloom!" (2020 Remaster), Via Subterranea, Lost Garden Gnome Hotline [4 Song EP], Island 13 - EP, The Urchin Tear Soda Ringtone Collection, All The Covers, The Blue Obscurities, and 6 more. , and , .

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1.
Max Mystic 04:50
Sunset Flash; Mystic Max Gypsy third eye surf punk in a Cadillac Sliding back; Max Mystic Drinking your champagne on a pile of bricks Slow down; Mystic Max Golden hipbone leather on the railroad tracks Wood and thyme; Max Mystic Absinthe fairy got you with her bag of tricks Quick reflex; Mystic Max Helicopter pilot while you're playing jacks Serpent locks ; Max Mystic Solar luminator with your latest mix I could disrupt the orbit of your distant molten eye Collide the sea; Quaking like a blue moon again Incandence; Mystic Max Refracting your apartment with a fire crack Pipeline curls; Max Mystic Orca fin in tandem on your left break trick Bring the rain; Mystic Max Dancing in a phone booth while they paint it black The street submits; Max Mystic Catapulting pulses bridging every clique I could disrupt the orbit of your distant molten eye Collide the sea; Quaking like a blue moon again
2.
Pluviophiles On a railcar to Tasmania Don't get trapped on that track don't get trapped in line Just to find what lies behind The sloshy boots and postcards It's all a mystery Oh, you look at me like a satisfied crocodile You smile as if to say I just ate your sister Adrenaphiles On a high that races the heart Defying the laws of nature and gravity Not satisfied 'til the speedometer reaches The red line of ecstasy In a hurry to meet with destiny Oh, you look at me like a satisfied crocodile You smile as if to say I just ate your sister The train approaches The western station These winds unending Are all that's certain
3.
One was seen in a Calcutta market Prayer beads and plastic bags full of hair Luxurious offerings of passion and piety Someone had painted it gold Two were reportedly abandoned At the end of the comeliest cul-de-sac Past the doorway you last checked for her Outside the light ring Where they all stood waiting For bad news to come up the driveway Three were seen skating the dead streets of Providence After all bedtime songs had been sung Four ended up in Death Valley Where the woman with the sad make up Laces up her dress again Under a salt crust they wait For the orchestra but it never comes It never begins Blank space between the leaves Blank space between Friends, he's missing again Quicksand or gusts of wind Crows with armor Some strange charmer Sixty eight were glimpsed On a receding barge The horizon swallowed them Their present location remains a mystery Two hundred and ten have replaced The skulls in a Parisian catacomb Near the sight of an infamous cave-in Everyone agreed they were garish but Uplifting I confronted one myself Backstage of an abandoned theater Hoisted in the air by the paint frame rigging I turned to get my net, but it was gone Four thousand were discovered in Antarctica Near the base of Vinson Massif Knocking their heads on the ice Reports are flooding in Something just below the surface Threatening to rise Like a steam vent on a snow capped volcano And freeze there Condensed Blank space between the leaves Blank space between Friends, he's missing again Quicksand or gusts of wind Crows with armor Some strange charmer Blank space between the leaves Blank space between Friends, he's missing again Sinkhole or abduction Crows with armor Some strange charmer here
4.
Eons & Ions 07:26
Lend me your space suit, my sister This cathedral's air remains so heavy It gathers superstitions It heralds premonitions The three of us were asked here We don't know what we're calling The earth is brewing a force A megalith rising through the mirrored water No one's spoken its name in what seems like Eons and ions, eons and ions Scientists and doctors watch Watch with fascination We called in their language In the muted tones of winter 'Til the last tremendous body Each impossibly larger Eons and ions in the making It could not breech the gilded railing Its one wild eye searched the crowd for meaning And finding none returned to history Eons and ions, eons and ions, eons and ions.
5.
Picture of a stack of wrecked cars with green light shining Picture of a clock tower cracked under a flickering spotlight Picture of an idle flying saucer in a synthetic haze Picture of a mammoth capsule in the center of the dancehall Crushed windows scatter green light Twisted metal clings like lovers Hours missing Hands unwinding Skewed like vectors Angles creaking Edgeless light speed curves shine Mastodon squeezed inside Oh this auto smashed up fenders Auto smashed up mirrors Auto smashed up headlight Oh this timepiece trembling hands The timepiece stripped down gears This timepiece frozen in time Oh this saucer Oh this capsule chilling it down This ice age holding it out This mammoth bottled inside Some things escape the frame Infect your mind with seductive improbability Seen in half light through your spy glass They're not as heavy as they appear They're just as heavy as light
6.
They saw it pouring through the valleys They saw it pouring down the hills And they fought it with their torches And their tinctures and their wills But we had no use for valor And we had no need for fear We lay all wrapped in our winter coats Your lips against my hair While blood turned the dirt to mud While years turned the stone to sand While storms turned the sky to red While heat turned the sea to land And on the ridge one hundred broken windmills Bloomed with fire and were gone Like knots unravelling while we sleep She heard them running through the valleys She heard them dying in the fields And she cracked the earth above her And her face it was revealed But you and I were not among The fleeing and the dead You turned to me eternally And in a halting voice you said, Sink like stone to Loch Ness Square Like knots unravelling while we sleep
7.
Every morning Every rising Owls and sparrows Claws and wingspan Stolen textbook Folded etching Fourths in pocket Shake the feathers from her eyes In the line work Aerocity Place where denizens Dwell in numbers Travel airways Any door will lead to the outside She dreamt of a house on a cloud With a room with a view And a door to the sky The sudden birds To be one of them Every morning Every rising Wind in water Hammered silver Final migration Flocks and murders Psychic compass Sews her velvet edges for the gift Strokes her quills Boards the current Angles envisioned for the lift For the Wright equation Any door will lead to the outside She dreamt of a house on a cloud With a room with a view And a door to the sky The sudden birds An endless view with a lake below And skeletal trees on a cliff edge To be one of them
8.
From off in the distance White dust shrouds the hoofbeats With knives in her waistcoat She punctures the landscape Her horse is a strange thing Discovered at low tide Salt water receding This must explain their thirst A trembling vista The skating stones all slide By some bizarre physics They keep pace with her stride Awake the knife thrower She sleeps under velvet You won't feel her sharp edge 'Til it's halfway through you The air smells like sulphur When her pale eyes open And brighten the landscape where smoke blows across He rides a horse across the desert She knows what he carries A spellbound scroll Secrets stolen from Bazantium Could turn person to a demon She's got to have it! The rider glides between two cataracts He knows what he has but not what it does Danger at the red rocks Nowhere to run She's got to have it! With the flash of the blade She slices the reigns She steals the spellbound scroll He fires three shots in the direction she ran The scroll lofts on the breeze The whispering wind of change Reads out the words in a long forgotten tongue Be careful what you wish for This town's been a strange place Salt water receding where smoke blows across Behind every window She sleeps under velvet where smoke blows across The dust collects corners All courtyards are empty where smoke blows across
9.
Postman, please deliver my note To the purple mushroom house You can only find it at night By the light of the crescent moon You ford the stream Walking toad's backs at night With the glint of Aldebaran in your eye Past the field Where nothing grows Up a stream so cold Pocket silver fish to feed the skinny cat One eye leading backwards Two eyes leading backwards Three eyes leading To a monolith devoured by time Offers stones to hungry vines Please shake into my envelope What remains of October's leaves The only time the stamp will stick Is the cruelest month frost cracks the flower December's frozen wind Beckons illumined beast On a lonely path Seeds floating from giant dandelions Ride one up, up around this cloud And drop into a moonlit labyrinth Three corners forward and two corners back Find the gate in the weeping ferns Kiss the statue of gasping lovers Stop below the arch Counting raindrops twenty three Lick the drops from the spider's webs 'Til you taste the extra hidden key Postman When you reach the front Of the purple mushroom house Fall asleep on the doorstep and dream of Caeleno and lightening bolts When you awake to dragonflies and spiders Don't be alarmed My note will be removed from your vest When those leaves have all blown away
10.
I know; you've been asleep for a few millennium...

about

About "Via Subterranea":
This, the ninth Trance To The Sun studio album, was conceived in 2013. It was recorded mostly in 2014, and mixed 2014-2016. Running time 72:34. Visual imagery by Ingrid Luna Blue.

Reviews:

SOMEWHERECOLD.NET wrote:
Trance to the Sun is a post-punk, gothic trio that uses additional live members when needed. The core members consist of Ashkelon Sain (guitar, bass, keys), Ingrid Luna Blue (vox), and Daniel Henderson (drums). The band formed in 1990 with Sain being founder of the band. Via Subterranea is their eighth album and their first in 15 years. This band is not filled with newcomers to music nor to the genres they deftly meld together. They are veterans and the quality of Via Subterranea demonstrates that fact.
“Max Mystic” starts off Via Subterranea with dreamy vocals and an addictive bass-line that just keeps walking throughout the song. Luna Blue channels a bit of Siouxsie Sioux in her breathy, ethereal vocals. Synths play beautiful, floating drones under the percussion. The guitar work glitters and has this amazing counter melody to the vocals. “Railcar to Tasmania” has an almost laid back groove it, with reverb drenched vocals and acoustic guitar. The drums are intricate and the bass work spot on. There are these moments in the song where it reminds me of Gene Loves Jezebel at the top of their game. Don’t get me wrong. Trance to the Sun has their own sound but there are all these wonderful moments where the right touches just spark references to beloved bands. At about 3:00, there is a bridge that is emotive and a post-punk dream. The bass tones in this particular track are gorgeous.
“Lost Garden Gnome Hotline” has these sparse, almost disconnected drums and moody guitar. The bass plays a short line to keep it all together and in focus while Luna Blue does her vox in spoken word. There is a mystical and poetic nature to the lyrics here, as she breathes them into the speakers.
Under a salt crust they wait for the orchestra but it never comes,
it never begins.
Blank space between leaves
Blank space between…. Friends,
he’s missing again!
Quicksand or gusts of wind?
Crows with armor?
Some strange charmer?
Sixty-eight were glimpsed on a receding barge,
the horizon swallowed them,
their present location a mystery
Coupled with the tones and lines in the music, there is an almost ominous feel to the spoken words. The track builds as synths soar and guitars create slow, creeping walls of fuzz. “Eons and Ions” has spacey synth sounds, and a staccato texture just under the surface of the driving bass and drums. The piano work gives the piece depth and texture while guitars warble and create walls of sound here and there. It’s a wonderfully complex composition.
“Mammoth Capsule” just screams seventies rock piece from the get go. However, it is sprinkled with moody synth and Luna Blue always brings the song back to a post-punk feel. High-hat blazes as Sain shows off his guitar prowess. Wah-wah shimmers through the track along with fuzzed out walls and long, drawn out emotive notes. The song ends with sounds of wind and then fades. “Loch Ness Square” begins with explosive tom-heavy drums a definite prog-rock feel. Something I haven’t mentioned much is the lyrics and their rather poetic quality. They are dark but there is a depth here, evoking a sort of goth and almost Black Sabbath sort of ominous feel. Luna Blue sings,
They saw it pouring through the valleys,
They saw it pouring down the hills,
And they fought it with their torches,
And their tinctures and their wills,
But we had no use for valor,
And we had no need for fear.
We lay all wrapped in our winter coats,
You lips against my hair,
While blood turned the dirt to mud
There is a large, picturesque, almost fantasy image being painted with words. The music, of course, really enhances the lyrics and mirrors the sense of urgency in Luna Blue’s words. Henderson should also be hailed for his intricate percussion work throughout the album. He’s another drummer that not only keeps time but plays his kit like an instrument, giving various touches and feels to enhance the overall composition of the music.
“Aviatrix (The Sudden Birds)” is another song that evokes seventies guitar power bands with a beautifully rendered guitar piece at the beginning. It is coupled with breathy synth drones and expressive percussion and bass. At about 5:08, there is a rather interesting bridge, as the bass, drums, and synths play with the melody in various forms. “Where Smoke Blows Across” is the longest on the album, clocking in at 10:04. It beings with an ominous guitar line and melancholy synths. It is a dreamy, synth-heavy composition with understated percussion and bass that hangs back in the mix. There are even flavors of a middle eastern sort in the guitar work about midway through the track.
“Purple Mushroom House” begins with rain and the sound of birds. Bright piano rings out as if in the distance. Jazz style percussion comes into the mix and then dreamy, floating guitars with droney synths fill the voids. This reminds me of the more ethereal moments in spaced out, drug-fueled seventies compositions. Luna Blue sings,
Postman, please deliver my note
To the purple mushroom house,
You can only find it at night,
By the light of the crescent moon,
You ford the stream,
Walking toad’s backs at night,
With the glint of Aldebaran in your eye.
Luna Blue’s lyrics are always provocative and create a story world with images, characters, and emotive touches. “Sleep Divination” begins with reverbed washed guitar, tinny sounds, synths that make spacey sounds in the deepest crevices of the composition, and expressive high-hat. A wood-block sound enters the mix and gives it texture. The guitars begin to build up layers as a wall of sound slowly grows throughout the piece. This is largely an instrumental song, with Luna Blue only punctuating the soundscape for brief moments with “I know you’ve been asleep for a few millenium” as a repeated line. The track fades as synths play a drone and the album is silenced.
Via Subterranea is a melding of genres with expressive goth, post-punk, darkwave, prog rock, and middle eastern flavors. Channeling the likes of Siouxsie Sioux, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Cure and many other artists and styles, Trance to the Sun creates their own lush and mature sound. The lyrics create word pictures, fantasy lands, and emotive moments that are coupled with with the larger, intricate instrumentation. - Jason Lamoreaux

ROCKNERD.CO.UK wrote:
TRANCE TO THE SUN: Via Subterranea — dreampop with an emphasis on the “pop”; first track “Max Mystic” makes its case immediately without undue faff. (And that’s even with it being, at 4:51, the shortest track on the album.) Real muscle and not just atmospherics (though you can still tell they were a Projekt band with a not-so-secret goth past). Find of the day. - David Gerard  //

OPUS.FM wrote:
On Via Subterranea, their first full-length since 2001’s Atrocious Virgin, Portland’s Trance to the Sun conjures up a heady blend of goth, shoegaze, and psychedelia that brings to mind even such a landmark album as The Cure’s Disintegration.
Like Robert Smith’s magnum opus, there’s a commitment on the part of Trance to the Sun to go big or go home. Ingrid Luna Blue’s voice is coy, ethereal, and sultry, delivering abstract lyrics like “I could disrupt the orbit of your distant molten eye” and even garden gnome-inspired streams-of-consciousness. Meanwhile, Ashkelon Sain’s guitar evokes middle-eastern textures, tears through soaring solos, and delivers haunting ambience — sometimes all in the same song. (To continue with the Disintegration comparison, think “Prayers for Rain” or “Homesick” rather than, say, “Lovesong.”)
“Aviatrix (The Sudden Birds)” is a personal favorite. Sain’s guitar is at its trippiest even as the rhythms (anchored by Daniel Henderson’s drumming) evoke classic Cure-ish gloom. At nine minutes, it’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’ve been looking for the kind of ostentatious (I mean that in a good way) dark rock epic that goths don’t seem to make any more, then you’re in for a treat. - Jason Morehead  //

credits

released December 30, 2016

CREDITS:
Ingrid Luna Blue: Voice
Daniel Henderson: Drums
Ashkelon Sain: Guitar, Bass, Keyboards

Drums and guitars recorded by Ian Watts at The Magic Closet, Portland, Oregon; Voice, bass and keyboards recorded at the Sunflower Garden, Portland, Oregon; Additional recording by Adi Tejada at Space Dog, Santa Barbara, California.
Album mixed and produced by Ashkelon Sain with the help and advice of Daniel Henderson, Doug Krebs & Dorian Campbell.
Guest ambient atmospherics on track 10 provided by Ashe Ruppe.

Mastered by DougKrebsMastering, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Kenneth Barton, Clovis IV, Terry Luna & Lucretia*Renee Rathmann helped immensely with photography and other aspects of the project.
Executive Producer: Christopher Erisson.

This album was crowd funded by fans worldwide. Gigantic thank yous to everyone who came out in favor of the project! An extra special thank you goes out to the massively enthusiastic: Christopher Erisson, Marco Silva, Siobhan O'Neill, Tim Peberdy, Keith Lambell, Genie Higbee, Foster Glorch, Natalie Nunley & Andreas Ravenwell.

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Trance To The Sun Santa Barbara, California

"If you are already a fan, then you arrive here in anticipation of a succinct visit to this vast purple planet of otherworldly songs. If you are a first time listener, then you are to be envied. You are about to embark on a journey into a bright and blasted landscape of words and sounds that will dwell in your subconscious and dreams for a long time to come."
- TTTS megafan Dr. Ravenwell
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