Peristera by Meadow Argus

A mechanical pigeon bursts free from a rickety carousel and takes flight. Is it the steam-powered pigeon of Archytas, the flying machine of antiquity?

Recorded Spring 2021 at Lilleypad.
Mastered 2022 by Michael Southard.
Artwork by Pearl Morgan

Meadow Argus is Tynan Krakoff

Reviews:

"I’ve been a big fan of Tynan Krakoff’s Meadow Argus project for a while now, but Peristera is my favorite album so far. Dust-covered loops tug at memories buried deep in our subconscious, coaxed out by operatic samples and the increasing glassine electronics. Urgency fights against a current of clanging, broken down chimes and toy piano skeletons. Krakoff has an uncanny ability to push old, broken-down sounds up an ever-rising, the palette continuing to accumulate all kinds of disparate debris. Yet, he keeps it all tied together without losing a single melodic granule. This is music that carries so much weight, so much heartfelt wreckage that each creaking passage is like a reflexive self-sustaining rallying cry to keep fighting for one more tomorrow. Peristera is timeless and will be singing this rickety old song well beyond the realms of time." - Foxy Digitalis, The Capsule Garden Vol 1.15 https://foxydigitalis.zone/2022/04/22/the-capsule-garden-vol-1-15-april-22-2022/

"In which direction do thoughts merge with melodies and sounds? Is it repeating cycles of broken resonations creating lullyby like measures, or is it the undercurrent of darker formidable tones? On this composition titled Peristera by Meadow Argus, listeners are treated to both simultaneously. Conscious tenuously balances in the center, traversing broken melodic cracks in the sidewalk and peering into the fathomless depths of potency below.

Peristera is a forty minute composition with two side long tracks. An energy rest within these passages. Listeners hear vintage effervescence from the clinks of champagne glasses an the final unwinding of the dying Victrola. But, deep within the shadows of the accompanying black and white photography holds ethereal beclouded drones of something else. A darkness of grief portrayed in analog undercurrents of hidden inner sound. This is the juxtaposition Meadow Argus invokes. Like Anubis holding the scale, Meadow Argus creates the measure for thought to balance or fall into light or dark aural fields. " https://lostseasound.blogspot.com/2022/06/meadow-argus-peristera.html?m=1

"Blissed out wooze moves from Tynan Krakoff, of Columbus, Ohio, who might also be known from the 00’s cassette underground with his old tape label DNT Records. DNT used to push some pretty weird vibes back in the day, acting as a champion of underground artists working diligently on the fringes. The Meadow Argus project started in the Pacific Northwest back in 2006, but Tynan has returned to the moniker in recent years, and the album “Peristera” is the artist’s latest, a hymn of crumbling bell hypnosis and soothing ear curdle.

Consisting of two 20+ minute tracks, each side carries its own distinct vibe but is connected through the artist’s approach and constructive process. “Archytas” eases in gently, the overlapping shift and clang eventually distorting, as time erodes and we recognize our own reality as a mere fabrication. Crumbling clink and spacious rustle, the work is profound in simplicity, built from the crumpled phasing of each gritty loop, and the perception of incongruity, if any, is created entirely by our own subconscious attempting to isolate each respective sound. We all involuntarily attempt to find order in chaos, but the overflowing pool here is full of warm and bubbling machinery on the fritz, with important looking pieces slowly falling off until the frothing mass spills over the edge.

Tynan has referred to the Meadow Argus project as “conversations with my past self”, which is a lovely frame. The material is slowly gathered over long periods of time, and when all is finally brought together to create a finished work, the artist himself often does not remember the creation of the original sounds. In this sense, the creative process is improvisational in spirit, collaborating with memories of your past self, through the medium of time captured via magnetic tape.

The title track “Peristera” sprawls across the B side and is rooted in a circular crank, with amorphous lurch, and just enough dying battery wonk to keep things feeling dangerous. This is a set of beautifully melted tunes, probably too freaky for some, but bearing rewards that most would never understand anyway. The music of Meadow Argus is like a cracked player-piano adorned with flaming gong, a small glowing pile of broken robots gently rolling downhill, until we all wake up, not exactly well rested but definitely hungry. Nice red shell tapes are still available from the artist, go spelunking. " -Sub-Sub Strata, Vol. 2 https://www.freeformfreakout.com/sub-sub-strata-vol-2/

"The latest Meadow Argus tape is the longest one yet, letting each side stretch out for over 20 minutes. “Archytas”, the first half, sounds like a giant grotesque sculpture made of music box innards, churning away and creating dislocated rhythms tripping over themselves in multiple directions. Whining tape hiss and the last shred of operatic vocals from a mostly dubbed-over cassette lurk way down in the bottom of the mix, and there’s many moments where something tilts way off its axis, but there’s still several other gears spinning. “Peristera” has a similar makeup, except the music box melody at the front seems much more cheerful, yet it’s contrasted by dissonant droning. The effect is much like a sweet dream and a strange, insistent nightmare (not an especially violent one, but definitely a haunting one that lingers for a while) both jostling for space in your head at the same time. And the brief moments when the music box tips off-balance edge closer to the more disturbed state, but it still remains afloat until the tape’s abrupt end." https://theanswerisinthebeat.net/2022/04/22/meadow-argus-peristera-tape-self-released-2022/

Tracklist

1.	Archytas	22:02

2.	Peristera	21:00

Credits

released April 1, 2022

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