Video Premiere: The Heresiarch – Giant The Vine 

It is always interesting when a band takes a deep and meaningful subject and uses that as the springboard for an instrumental, rather than the usual lyrically-driven, track. It’s an easier task when you have the lyrics there to relay the story but remove those, and the music has to do the talking. And that is what is going on here with The Heresiarch, the new single from Giant The Vine.

It’s an difficult thing to do, to remove the usual direct line of communication, that is, the lyrical component. But it reaps rewards, too. Because you don’t have the language to take the listener by the hand and lead them to the obvious and intended conclusions, Giant The Vine are tasked with opening up a more nuanced and less direct conversation with the listener, one that deals more with moods and feelings, general concepts rather than specific meanings.

And so, it is through more ornate, post-rock and prog-infused soundscaping that they deliver their take on the subject matter, in this case. the life of Dolcino, a famous heresiarch from early 1300, who took the rebellion started by the radical preaching of Saint Francis of Assisi to its extremes. Of course, it is impossible to create a detailed dialogue with the listener, but you can relate to the drama and poignancy, the sense of rebellion and danger. And this they do.

And they do it through ornate, mathy guitar spirals, propulsive drums, bass lines that are both melodic and muscular and an overall sense of the grand and the graceful. The track wanders between moods, some contemplative, others aggressive, some ornate, others understated, running from lulling lows to sonic crescendoes as they convey the radical and rebellious feelings and sense of world-changing events found in the various chapters of this compelling story.

Telling a story is a precious and timeless tradition. To do so through the power of sound alone is something bordering on the truly magical.