Tim Hecker-esque layers of noise subtly underscore mesmerizing acoustic guitar arpeggios on Villages’ song “Before Failures.” While I really enjoy drone music, more often that not, I feel an unnerving sense of dread whenever I listen to the genre. The repetitive patterns that make the genre often feel like ill omens of tremendous misfortune, but I don’t get that sense from this Villages track. The guitar arpeggio that Ross Gentry plays is certainly haunting, but also comforting, like a familiar lullaby with a strange, sinister undertone. The track coasts along at a leisurely pace, allowing the listener to really explore every level of detail, to get lost in the gothic, almost country-tinged world Villages conjures. A world so real that its textural compositions transport the listener into a different plane of reality resulting in the best out of body experience you’ll have all day.

“Before Failures” is the first track to premiere from Villages’ Theories of Ageing which will be out on Bathetic Records on October 16th.