Patience is a virtue. And, no, this isn’t some flippant or patronising reference to Oceans of Slumber “finally fulfilling the potential shown on their first album”, because they fulfilled that already from the off and especially on their third / self-titled release a couple of years ago. I mention it because the benefits and, yes, virtues of Starlight and Ash (Century Media) may not be immediately apparent. 

A lot has been made and overplayed of the choices Slumber have made this time around, but an oppressive feel still dominates the mood when it needs to without turning to distorted doom riffs, the drama still plays out in the stories and vocals without working in deathly sections of double-bass drum mayhem, Dobber Beverly finding different ways to express power and dynamism from behind the kit, and the sense of epic, progressive and expansive is still there, especially in ‘Just A Day’, while reigning the remaining songs in to a shorter four-to-five minutes.

None of this is to say Starlight and Ash is better than what has come before. None of this is to say Starlight and Ash is lesser than what has come before. This is just to say that, in refining and defining who they are, and in finding an identity in ‘New Southern Gothic’, these are the choices they’ve made.

So, yes, patience is one significant element. The first couple of listens do pass by somewhat. Pleasant. Like an hour sat on the rocks of the fictional coastal town the album plays out in, watching the waves crash, lost in thought. But the other factor at play here is trust. Trust by the band in itself, and trust by the band in its audience to display patience and to trust them in return, and to give Starlight and Ash time. 

There are some immediate and killer motifs that are picked up on first listen such as the steel country peals of the central and powerful ‘The Lighthouse’, or the sepia ‘Star Altar’, that calls to mind the style of The Gathering‘s How To Measure A Planet, or the vocal repetition and soft tidal build of ‘The Waters Rising’ – understated though they may be. Yet, the true genius lies within. The gradual breathing in, the osmosis and immersion in the album as a whole, of trusting in the quality, is an essential part of becoming part of the world and the stories being told; every song a distinct chapter, painted in the colours of its characters and their existence. 

And, then, once immersed, each chapter reveals itself as its own story, with the scenery and atmosphere carefully created and produced by the collective group, and the feeling added to by the way Cammie Beverly expertly and expressively delivers the narrative.  

And then, the swirls and cinematic nature of the music become a very visual thing: the album becomes a soundtrack to a film you haven’t yet seen, and each vocal motif takes you further in until, you are no longer sitting on the rocks watching the waves crash, you are part of the doomed community. You are living and feeling the inevitability of shared failure. 

You are part of Starlight and Ash. 

Buy the album here: https://oceansofslumber.lnk.to/StarlightAndAshID

8 / 10

STEVE TOVEY