Constantinople

Second pressing on white vinyl with black streaks, packaged in deluxe silkscreened gatefold covers with hand stamped labels.

IDES OF GEMINI is a collusion of musical forces precipitated by the haunting and inimitable vocal prowess of singer/bassist Sera Timms, also of Los Angeles dark-psych alchemists BLACK MATH HORSEMAN. The compositions are the long-simmering mental fallout of veteran music and film journalist J. Bennett (guitar/backing vocals), who has spent most of the last 14 years writing for such publications as Decibel, Terrorizer, Revolver, Alternative Press and Thrasher. The third and final corner of the triangle is Kelly Johnston, whose martial drumming techniques and soaring backing vocals literally brought IDES OF GEMINI to life as a performing entity.

Last year, Timms and Bennett recorded and self-released IDES OF GEMINI’s four-song EP, The Disrup-tion Writ, which was anointed “My Favorite Demo of 2010” by the highly influential music blog Invisible Oranges. Lyrically, the songs detailed the terrifying permanence of dismemberment in all its unsettling forms: psychological, emotional and physical. Musically, though? Someone on the Internet called it “dream doom.” Nobody likes to be pigeonholed, but IDES OF GEMINI will gladly take up temporary residence in that particular nook for the sake of shorthand. Which is to say that “dream doom” will do the trick for now. And now is nothing if not fleeting. Mostly because IDES OF GEMINI are about to unveil their full-length debut, Constantinople, in May 2012 via SIGE Records (LP) and Neurot Recordings (CD).

The nine songs on Constantinople evince the light and shade of the IDES dynamic: the vicious and the atmospheric mingling in a spacious panorama of high white ether. Respected metal journalist Etan Rosenbloom described it best on MetalSucks.net: “Guitarist J. Bennett lays down imperial metal riffs swathed in so much reverb that they seem isolated from the rest of the world. Bassist/vocalist Sera Timms layers her affectless voice in ghostly counterpoint, turning tales of spiritual discord into disturb-ing lullabies…If something seems missing from Ides Of Gemini’s sound, that’s exactly the point. Their accretion of small musical gestures inverts metal’s normal use of space. They imply terror without ever exposing it. Each song is an accumulation of outlines, a sort of sonic daguerreotype.”

Produced by IDES OF GEMINI and engineered and mixed by Chris Rakestraw (Danzig, Skel-etonwitch) at Sunset Lodge Recording in Los Angeles.