From Projekt Records:
"Unto Ashes conjures a stirring and captivating album, simultaneously beautiful and unsettling. Pretty haunted things —
their eleventh Projekt release in a career stretching two decades —
effortlessly spans the ages from a dark and medieval flair to modern
apocalyptic gothic-folk. Recorded almost entirely in an octagonal
Victorian parlor room, bewitched by centuries-old traditions, the songs
of reflective solemnity are swathed in dramatic, soaring choruses
executed by Ericah Hagle, Michael Laird, and Bret Helm (of Audra).
"The music harkens back to their groundbreaking debut, Moon Oppose Moon (PRO106
– 1999): Unto Ashes has wrought music with an unusually broad array of
diverse instruments, including hammered dulcimer, harmonium, autoharp,
psaltery, viola da gamba, acoustic guitar, piano, and Arabic percussion.
The songs are masterfully crafted by Laird, whose enchanting production
is characterized by a gossamer of sonic treatments.
"The eerie, olden-skills Poppet dolls that adorn the covers seem to beckon the listener with binding spell of ensorcellment.
"As
is their custom, Unto Ashes’ songs are unified in their explorations of
love, loss, and life. There are moments of quiet reverie followed by
epic revelry. Ericah Hagle’s “White Noise” presents a harrowing hospital
farewell; the melancholic and exalted “I’m Too High” reflects on a
distant past; the mesmerizing “I’m Living in a Coma” concerns a
flat-lined relationship and could almost be classified as psychedelic
music; “Letter from Choco to Melody” is a magnificent eulogy to a
beloved rescue cat, and can also be seen as a testament to undying love;
the descending melody and preternatural harmonies on “Don’t Ask Me If
I’m Crazy” are unforgettable. Strictly speaking, there is a love ballad
on the album, although it is deceptively disguised as an anthem “For My
Funeral”; some listeners have sworn that this is “the song” that must be
played for them on “that day.”
"Two
songs are graced with words by 19th-century authors, namely Emily
Bronte (“Fall Leaves Fall”) and E.A. Poe (“Alone”). Fans of Unto Ashes
are well aware that the band has crafted many fine and completely
original cover songs, and indeed their 2014 release Ghosts Captured contains no less than 25 (!) of them. On Pretty haunted things Unto
Ashes pay homage to one of their early heroes, Gary Numan, with a
breathtaking cover version of “My Dying Machine” performed exclusively
on Arabic and Oriental instruments.
"The
title of the album (taken from a line in “I’m Too High”) obliquely
references the pretty and haunted songs contained in it. Or is the band
referring to the Poppet dolls, which are both pretty and haunted; or to
people they either know or have not yet met? Regardless, Pretty haunted things might just be one of their finest conjurations to date."