Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

Situs Solitus - Situs Solitus

8/19/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Situs Solitus

Situs Solitus
​self-released; 2016

3.9 out of 5

By Jamie Robash

If you’ve ever found yourself making up ridiculous excuses for why you haven’t accomplished so many of the things you want to do in life because you are too busy with other things then you’re going to hate Eric Zabriskie. Not only has the Syracuse, New York solo artist just released his first eponymous EP Situs Solitus under the moniker Situs Solitus, he did it while stealing time away from his med school studies. Yeah that’s right, Zabriskie is in his first year as a med student and has still managed to find enough time to make a dark and illustrious album full of haunting strings pieces cold and jilting piano and whispering vocals that often feel like breath on the back of a neck.

The haunting orchestrations on Situs Solitus stem from Zabriskie’s previous work scoring films from both America and abroad. But the tone of the EP comes from its inspiration, which was working the graveyard shift at a mental hospital.


Situs Solitus opens with the slow churning orchestration on “From the Shade” and begins to set the dark and nocturnal mood that Zabriskie has set out to create on this record. The violins slowly creak like an old ship out at sea. And Zabriskie’s soft yet ardent vocals lull the listener, not to sleep but into a sense of eerie calmness.

This sense of eerie calmness is perhaps its most haunting on the dark lullaby “This World I’ve Made,” which ambles along slowly with its taut dark strings cut with bright drops of piano. It definitely hints at Zabriskie’s film score talents, and is reminiscent of work by the great contemporary Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski. The song was inspired by a patient that Zabriskie knew at the mental institution.

​Zabriskie has said about the song’s beginning that  the patient had “described in detail the onset of schizophrenia to me, never knowing if you have awoken from sleep or into another hallucinatory dream...” This hallucinatory dream carries over to the ethereal guitar and wispy effects on “The Still Sargasso Sea.”
​

If you find yourself in need of inspiration to get going on something you’ve been putting off in your life or if you’ve had a long day and you need a musical equivalent to Netflix and chill, Situs Solitus should be at the top of your playlist.
Tweet
1 Comment
Dan D
8/22/2016 09:16:31 am

very nice - this should have been top album

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band

© Divide and Conquer 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact