Hard to describe this album without getting carried away. Nonconnah is husband and wife duo Zach & Denny Corsa who previously recorded as Lost Trail but changed name about the same time they relocated from North Carolina to Tennessee. Long before I moved to America, I’ve been obsessed with the big open spaces there and art that explores it like Twin Peaks, H.P.Lovecraft, WIlliam Least Heat-Moon and classic drone albums like “Stone Circle” by Wood-Land.
Here is something that encapsulates all those visions. A wide open space where huge walls of guitars brush up against drones that sound like signals from the deep woods. There’s fragments of songs, esoteric speeches and an underlying sense of mystery, as well as kindness.
Take the epic post-rock of Godspeed! You Black Emperor then immerse it in rainbows and forests until it starts to spin on the spot like a dervish, joyously. No matter how many times I play it, it never ceases to delight.
“Unicorn Family” is an epic beast, recorded over four years at three different studios as well as in various natural and abandoned locations. Helping out along the way we have the likes of like Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch), Jad Fair (Half Japanese), Archie Moore (Velocity Girl, Lilys, Black Tambourine), Chris Thompson (Eric’s Trip, Moonsocket), Brian Deck & Ben Massarella (Red Red Meat, Califone, Modest Mouse), Alex Greene (Reigning Sound), Cody Drasser (Afterbirth), Tim Prudhomme (Fuck), Angel Marcloid (Fire-Toolz) and Stuart McLamb (The Love Language).
I know I’m the label guy but would you judge me if I told you it was a masterpiece? Because I am telling you.
100 copies on cassette with printed insert.