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Music: Rock/Pop Stars of the Lid w/ Christopher Willits

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When Texas ambient duo Stars of the Lid released their first album in more than five years in 2007, expectations were pretty high. But And Their Refinement of the Decline proved to be as ironic a title as 2001's Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid. It's a hypnotic spell of Angelo Badalamenti-style minor-chord movements, Erik Satie's "furniture music" ideal, and Brian Eno's On Land minimalism; when the record's exotic timbres and deceptively complex arrangements reveal themselves, familiar ambient descriptors like "oceanic" and "pre-verbal" seem spot-on. Their subtle brushstrokes and epic canvases might be out of step with these MP3-shuffle days, but that just makes it feel even more heavenly.

– Matt Sussman