This is seriously one of those releases that would normally fall completely into obscurity if not for a few people who champion such records. Please, if you will, allow me to be that person for this record. Southern Records has a running series - Latitudes - where it gives artists a very finite amount of studio time to record a record. Requiem is a benefit of such a venture and comes courtesy of Josh Graham and Greg Burns, both of whom were in Red Sparowes at the time. As The (Fallen) Black Deer, Graham and Burns produce a one off album that is a re-imagining of The Shining soundtrack (mostly for Jack's descent into madness). Sound good? I thought so too.
If Graham and Burns accomplished one thing with this recording, it is the singular fact that the duo surely give a different but equally effective imagining of The Shining soundtrack. The (Fallen) Black Deer create tension through guitars and other strange noises that blip in and out of one's aural range as the atmosphere slowly descends into darker sounding territory. This "darker" sound is subtle in its execution and comes as the result of smooth transitions that listeners can miss because the whole record is particularly engrossing. Requiem is split into ten different tracks, but, other than to possibly mark changes in the sounds, the album works practically seamless in its progression almost completely negating the need to view it as anything other than a unified body of work.
Considering the place that Stanley Kubrick's version of this film (and Stephen King's book) holds in the place of popular culture, The (Fallen) Black Deer take a bit of a leap in the endeavor of recreating or re-imagining the soundtrack of the movie. Thankfully, Graham and Burns are successful in this attempt and give listeners quite the excellent record to document their vision. Requiem is a limited release with just a thousand copies available on CD; so, if this is of interest, then by all means seek out and acquire this record (particularly if one is a fan of their other outfits).
