maudlin of the Well
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Maudlin of the Well | |
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| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | Avant-garde metal Progressive metal Chamber music Art rock |
| Years active | 1996–2003; 2008–present |
| Labels | Dark Symphonies, Blood Music |
| Members | Jason Byron Toby Driver Greg Massi Maria-Stella Fountoulakis Josh Seipp-Williams Jason Bitner Terran Olson Sam Gutterman Nicholas Kyte Andrew Dickson |
Maudlin of the Well (commonly abbreviated as motW) is an avant-garde metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. Their music contains elements from many different genres including doom metal, jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, post rock, progressive metal, death metal, and gothic metal, as well as chamber music, ambient music and New Age music. After a five year hiatus, the band re-united to record their latest album, Part the Second, which was funded by fan donations and released online May 14, 2009 for free.
Biography
maudlin of the Well released three full-length albums before disbanding in 2003. These albums included 1999's My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible and 2001's Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, these last two made as complementary companion albums. The band had a consistent core membership, which consisted of Jason Byron, Greg Massi, and Toby Driver. Throughout its career a sort of "revolving door" of members and session musicians participated as needed.
maudlin's music, lyrics, and atmosphere dealt predominantly with the subject of astral projection. The band described their approach as trying to find music rather than compose it. This was done through practicing astral projection and lucid dreams, from which they were purportedly able to "bring back" pre-existing music from the astral plane (as stated by Toby Driver in the liner notes included with the reissued Bath and Leaving Your Body Map).
In late 2001, the band began working on a fourth studio album. During this time, the band lost several longtime members, changed labels, and ultimately renamed themselves to Kayo Dot. This fourth album was later released in 2003 as Kayo Dot's Choirs of the Eye.
The Dark Symphonies label re-issued Bath and Leaving Your Body Map in 2006 and My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible in 2008, all with bonus tracks consisting of early demos.
In a blog post on the bands MySpace page on July 27, 2008, Driver revealed that a fan donated enough money to record a new album. Recording started on February 10, 2009, and the album, titled Part the Second was finally released in May 2009. It is available for free download in various file formats (MP3, FLAC and WAV) on motW's website, torrent networks, or alternatively, it can be streamed directly from the site. An amalgam of many different musical styles, the new songs share an ethereal quality with previous motW recordings, but are distinctly more mellow than the group's prior releases and contain no death growls.
The Finnish non-profit/label Blood Music later ran a limited CD pressing of Part the Second, as well as further small runs of the band's previous albums, in 2012.
Discography
Demos
- Through Languid Veins - 1996
- Begat of the Haunted Oak: An Acorn - 1997
- Odes to Darksome Spring - 1997
- For My Wife - 1998
Albums
- My Fruit Psychobells...A Seed Combustible (1999)
- Bath (2001)
- Leaving Your Body Map (2001)
- Part the Second (2009)
- Box Set (2012)