Crown Lands – Ritual I Review

What does Crown Lands sound like?

Prog-rock duo turn their hand to worldly ambience and tribal exploration.

The review of ‘Ritual I’ by Crown Lands

Progressive rock duo Crown Lands traditionally creates rock with vocals, big guitars, and a heavy dose of psychedelic synths. Whilst they work on their third album, vocalist and drummer Cody and multi-instrumentalist Kevin have found themselves embracing world music. Born from their love of cultural music, discovering new instruments, and percussion, two EPs were created. The first is ‘Ritual I’, a 28-minute instrumental exploration of world music through the lens of a prog rock band.

‘Dawn’ opens the song cycle with a cleansing and uplifting track. What starts with ambient synth drones and faded distant percussion rumbles emerges into a rhythmic powerhouse whilst staying eternally gentle. The raj-like drums allow the electric guitars to become both rhythm and melody as they develop across the track. It is the perfect song to convey a dewy morning and a bold sunrise. I could listen to it on repeat for meditation, too. ‘The Storm’ has a deeper resonance as it channels the Australian outback. Low hum synths, electric piano motifs, and the didgeridoo carve out a dusty path for bird squawks, jaw harps, animal guiros, and flutes to glide over the top. Gentle rainsticks cascade over thundering drums from various nations, creating a sound that feels outback-based, yet also of other plains too.

‘Vigil’ marks the centre point of the EP. The flute takes the spotlight for this piece, leading a reflective, calming melody, draped in tingsha bells, and cloaked in night crickets and lively animal chatter. The entire release bathes in different outdoor field recording style samples, and each song has its own take. For ‘Dusk’, the pulse of the crickets and wildlife is slower, and more aquatic in its echoes. The flutes are slower, the drone synths thinner, and the fading in of the log drum softer. The range of percussion across the release is beautiful, even in the simpler tracks like ‘Dusk’. The bent notes of the flutes and synths bring a drifting, Smoky Mountain tone to the track, making it irresistible.

The closing track is a murky mixture of live percussion, synths, and flutes. ‘The Serpent’ places the marimba upfront as a rhythmic motif as complex rhythmic loops unfold around it. There is some excellent interplay between flutes and guitars as they drift over the glassy and wooden percussive structures. It wouldn’t feel too out of place from Dead Can Dance’s ‘Spiritchaser’ album, or Lisa Gerrard and Jeff Rona’s ‘A Thousand Roads’ soundtrack.

Crown Lands may have taken a surprise left turn with their music for ‘Ritual I’, but they commit to it fully and have created a sumptuous song cycle. The prog-rock influences of creating psychedelic, inventive rock pay off as it translates to floating flute arrangements and clever percussion production. Anyone who enjoys Native American-influenced music, or perhaps spiritual retreat music, will find something to enjoy here. I’d also like to shout out the 24-bit HD audio of the release. Crown Lands have followed the Peter Ulrich approach to recording lots of hand percussion by releasing the audio in HD, with a clever use of stereo. The EP shines with headphones on and the lights out.

‘Rituals I’ is a pleasant surprise from completely left field, and I look forward to hearing ‘Ritual II’ when it releases later on.

Recommended track: Dawn

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