--------------------------
BEHIND THE MASTER
--------------------------

'The Rise and Fall of the Melting World (Extended / Alternate Master)' is the start of something we've wanted to explore for a while now at Lost Tribe Sound. The original full-length album released in 2021, was impeccably mastered by Ian Hawgood, and this is no rebuke of that material. Instead, this alternative version offers up Arrowound's own self-mastered version of the album, alongside a never-before-heard song, "Aquatomb'' which was created during the same sessions as Rise and Fall.  Also, receiving a rework is the cover art.

Be sure to check out the original version on CD/DL:
arrowounds.bandcamp.com/album/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-melting-world

Many times we've lost sleep at night pondering the final presentation of sound, hoping we made the right decision. Thinking, it would show a lack of confidence to present an album in more than one way. We now realize that's all bullshit, we are fascinated with the many ways an album can shift moods and impact the psyche based on the mastering alone. That's why we are dusting off some of our favorite archival masters, ones that we feel offer enough of a sea change to make them worthwhile.

This alternate master of Rise and Fall, was something Chamberlain and LTS worked back and forth on for months before deciding to hand the job over to Hawgood. Compared to the original this alt. master hits some massively satisfying points in the delivery of the rhythms, with the bass kicks tending to feel a little more sculpted and in your face than the original tape mastered version. The reduced stereo width of the alt. version retracts some of the dreaminess of the original, yet one could argue this also provides it with more immediacy and tension. 

------------------------------------------------

Ryan Chamberlain (aka Arrowounds) originally envisioned 'The Rise and Fall of the Melting World' as an extension of the previous two albums, 'Oncotype Sketchbook' and 'The Loneliness of the Deep Sea Diver,' although with the intended purpose of exploring the "aftermath and resurfacing" from the events that inspired those creations.

Chamberlain aimed for a more open sounding terrain to represent a clearing of the mind or the ability to breathe again, though there were multiple occasions throughout the making of 'Rise and Fall' where the waves came crashing back down into the depths. Nothing is ever that easy. Continuing health scares of those closest to Chamberlain and the overall climate of anxiety the world maintains always threatened to darken and pollute the soundscapes during their creation.

Field recordings from Chamberlain’s new living environment; far from the city, also played a huge role in shaping this album, maneuvering the senses of uncertainty and isolation throughout. Traveling in the mind, projecting ones being through nature, spilling out amongst the moss and soil into your own film of wreckage… senses perceive as much as deceive.

As it stands, 'The Rise and Fall of the Melting World' is the perfect closing to the trilogy of albums, with its lingering threads and cancerous tentacles breaching the surfaces and branching into unknown landscapes.