"Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxième)" is a track by the American ambient drone duo Stars of the Lid, composed of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie. The song appears on their acclaimed double album And Their Refinement of the Decline, released in 2007. This album is considered one of their most significant works, shaping the genre of modern ambient and drone music12.
Musical Style and Structure
- The track exemplifies Stars of the Lid's hallmark sound: intensely atmospheric, with slow-moving, lush, and textured layers built from processed strings, horns, and drone elements.
- Critics and fans often highlight the emotional resonance of the track, despite its minimalism. The music gently unfolds, focusing on subtle shifts and the interplay between presence and absence — sometimes referred to as "negative space" in music.
- The duo’s influences include composers like Brian Eno, Morton Feldman, LaMonte Young, and contemporary sacred music by figures like Arvo Pärt. This heritage is reflected in the meditative, timeless atmosphere of the piece.
Album Context
- "Even If You’re Never Awake (Deuxième)" is the third track on the first disc of And Their Refinement of the Decline.
- The song runs approximately 9 minutes and 20 seconds.
- The album as a whole is praised for its deliberate pacing, technical mastery, and emotional depth, designed to evoke introspection and invite the listener into a hypnotic, contemplative state.
Reception and Importance
- The track, and the album it resides on, are considered essential listening for fans of drone, ambient, and minimalist music. The work has been described as “a marea that rises constantly, never spilling over,” capturing the group's talent for evoking powerful emotions with minimal means.
- Many listeners report profound, sometimes wordless emotional experiences with this song, which the artists themselves designed as an exploration of the boundary between musical form and feeling.
Legacy
Brian McBride’s passing in 2023 marked the end of new work from the duo but prompted renewed reflection on their legacy. "Even If You're Never Awake (Deuxième)" remains a touchstone in the ambient genre, celebrated for its poetic, otherworldly beauty and introspective depth2.
