Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline

If Vaughan Williams' 'The Lark Ascending' is direct in its encapsulation of its listener, then Stars of the Lid are birds of a different sort. Where the Lark literally calls and climbs, appealing for your ear, 'And Their Refinement of the Decline' waits elsewhere. It might even be the sound of a meadowlark's slow decay, each disc and wing in itself. This music contains the quiet secret of modern life, like realising that above the horrid throb of streetlamps is a starry, starry expanse. These compositions never fail in removing the sense of impending future, with a sound that lingers and dissolves, as if it had never even touched upon the tender coil of your cochlea in the first place. (Daniel Greenwood)