A Winged Victory For the Sullen is a neo-classical collaboration between composer Dustin O’Halloran and Stars of the Lid’s Adam Wiltzie. Recorded in large acoustic spaces, as opposed to home studios, the duo performed on a selection of nine-foot grand pianos with extreme sonic low end, and other traditional instruments including a string quartet, French horn, and bassoon.

The recordings began in one late night session in Grunewald Church in west Berlin, strings were added in the historic East Berlin DDR radio studios, and a final session in Ferrara, Italy rounded out the sonic palate. The final result is seven landscapes of replicating harmony. In “Requiem for the Static King Part 1,” they have taken the classic idea of a string quartet and re-imagined it entirely to reveal exquisite new levels of mellow bliss.

Don’t call A Winged Victory for the Sullen a side project. It is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of.