The Wilderness

Biography

Cemeteries is Kyle J. Reigle who is based in Portland, Oregon. Not to be confused with the discontinued hardcore band of the same name. https://speakinghorrors.bandcamp.com/ Kyle J. Reigle describes the elegiac, blood-freezing folk of his Cemeteries project as “goth pop,” a genre tag that feels a bit too cheerful once you’ve heard it. His songs have a hint of gloom, but nothing as scary as the goth name suggests. Two major 2012 trends sneak into play, witch house and chillwave, but mostly th...

Cemeteries is Kyle J. Reigle who is based in Portland, Oregon.

Not to be confused with the discontinued hardcore band of the same name.

https://speakinghorrors.bandcamp.com/

Kyle J. Reigle describes the elegiac, blood-freezing folk of his Cemeteries project as “goth pop,” a genre tag that feels a bit too cheerful once you’ve heard it. His songs have a hint of gloom, but nothing as scary as the goth name suggests. Two major 2012 trends sneak into play, witch house and chillwave, but mostly the album encapsulates the drowsy echoes of dream pop. Reverberated atmospherics might bring to mind Mazzy Star, and the nocturnal qualities fall right in line with contemporaries like Beach House and Bradford Cox's drearier, spacy output in Deerhunter or Atlas Sound. His forthcoming full-length, The Wilderness via Lefse, was recorded at home but sounds like it came from the crypt, as evidenced by the spare and spectral, intermittently sylvan tones of “Summer Smoke,” a song that’s been given the beautiful, Nolan Wilson Goff-directed video.
Chilled out, enchanting, and spooky, Cemeteries’ first official album offers a welcome haunting. The solo project of Kyle Reigle, Cemeteries creates a soundscape in which mellow percussion gets layered with synth and guitar, where ethereal vocals lend dream pop a drafty feel. Reigle composed The Wilderness from an apartment bordering the woods and industrial wastelands at the edge of Buffalo, New York – a setting that seems to match the stark, lonely majesty embedded in the album’s sound.

As one might expect of a name like Cemeteries, the music is steeped in an awareness of both life and mortality. Lyrical references to seasons, temperature, and natural surroundings comprise almost every track. Album opener “Young Blood” swells with longing as Reigle sings, “I can still hear the whisper / of the cold and snow in winter / when I sleep.” Songs like “Summer Smoke” reference our kindest season, though their tone sustains the album’s wintry feel. And while the title track rides on a twist of upbeat folk, lyrics allude to long, chilly nights. Despite all the reference to cold and winter, there is something inviting and hopeful here. Musically, the album is a deep breath, capable of bringing awareness to the moment in a way that seems to slow time.
Reigle is selling The Wilderness and other works kickstarter-style on his blog to raise funds for studio time. The next album is already written, he reports, and a tour—with additional members Pete Zamniak and Jonathan Ioverio for live shows—is in the planning stages. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.