The Shadow Ring - The Lighthouse

HERE IT IS. The absolute pinnacle of Shadow Ring anti-music what-the-fuckery, The Lighthouse was released in 1999 as a double LP on Scott Foust/Idea Fire Company's majestic Swill Radio label. This is the album that, for me, encapsulates all that is great about the band. The seemingly offhand quality of the music is a cover for an intricate story that reveals itself through background sounds, accidental-seeming dialogue, elements that subtly (and not-so-subtly) repeat themselves and echo at different times over the course of the record with Firesign-Theater-level attention to ridiculous detail, and of course the ending that circles back to the beginning. A monster of an album. This one takes time to digest, so please don't form an opinion right away. Listen to it a few times, put it away, come back to it periodically, let it soak in.

The Shadow Ring - The Lighthouse