Steve Von Till announces A Deep Voiceless Wilderness ambient record and spoken word release of Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems

Steve Von Till has made a life’s work out of seeking the elemental. With a solo discography that stretches back more than two decades, he has toiled in a shadow realm, peeling back layers of reality in a never-ending search for true meaning and raw emotion. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness strips back the veil even further and as an achingly beautiful ambient work with neo-classical leanings, the record is a hallucinatory and elegant rumination on our disconnect from the natural world, each other, and ultimately ourselves. For some listeners, the record may recall the work of modern composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno or Gavin Bryars; for Von Till, it’s about surrendering to the spirit of place – and to the original intent behind his 2020 solo record, No Wilderness Deep Enough. That record marked a significant first for Von Till – it was his first solo record without a guitar in hand. Instead, Von Till intoned powerful and thought-provoking lyrics over piano, cello, mellotron and analog synthesizers. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness is that same album without Von Till’s words. “This is how I originally heard this piece of music,” Von Till says. “Without the voice as an anchor or earthbound narrative, these pieces have a broader wingspan. They become something else entirely and unfold in a more expansive way. The depth of the synths, juxtaposed with the strings and French horn, have space to develop and allow the listener to imagine their own story.”

Also a first for Von Till was Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems and Collected Lyrics, his first book of poetry. Published by the University of South Dakota’s AstrophilPress, the book established Von Till as a formidable and thoughtful author of verse – a fact that Neurosis fans knew all along, but the wider world was only just becoming aware of. For 2021, Von Till has reimagined Harvestman in a new format, delivering an intimate and captivating reading of the collection with sound enhancements. “Being a constant sound-seeker, I thought it would be more interesting to have some textures and treatments to break up the intimate voice recordings,” Von Till says of his decision to add some atmosphere to the spoken-word version of Harvestman. “The background sounds used on some of the tracks were pieces related to No Wilderness Deep Enough that were either not used or repurposed to interweave further connections between my artistic output at this time of my life.”

A Deep Voiceless Wilderness and the spoken word release of Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems and Collected Lyrics will be released on April 30th via Neurot Recordings. Pre-orders for both releases are available here and here, respectively.

Photo credit: Bobby Cochran