Von Till, Steve

Von Till, Steve

A Deep Voiceless Wilderness

Neurot Recordings

Steve Von Till has made a life’s work out of seeking the elemental. With a solo discography that stretches back more than two decades, he has toiled in a shadow realm, peeling back layers of reality in a never-ending search for true meaning and raw emotion. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness strips back the veil even further. An achingly beautiful ambient work with neo-classical leanings, the album is a hallucinatory and elegant rumination on our disconnect from the natural world, each other, and ultimately ourselves. For some listeners, the album may recall the work of modern composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno or Gavin Bryars. For Von Till, it’s about surrendering to the spirit of place—and to the original intent behind his 2020 solo album, No Wilderness Deep Enough. That album marked a significant first for Von Till: it was his first solo record without a guitar in hand. Instead, Von Till intoned powerful and thought-provoking lyrics over piano, cello, mellotron and analog synthesizers. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness is that same album without Von Till’s words. “This is how I originally heard this piece of music,” he says. “Without the voice as an anchor or earthbound narrative, these pieces have a broader wingspan. They become something else entirely and unfold in a more expansive way. The depth of the synths, juxtaposed with the strings and French horn, have space to develop and allow the listener to imagine their own story.”

Von Till, Steve

Harvestman - 23 Untitled Poems

Neurot Recordings

In 2020 Steve Von Till published his first book of poetry, Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems And Collected Lyrics. Published by the University of South Dakota’s Astrophil Press, the book established Von Till as a formidable and thoughtful author of verse—a fact that Neurosis fans knew all along, but the wider world was only just becoming aware of.“There is a depth of hope, acceptance and loss that permeates these poems,” Joseph Haeger said in his review for The Inlander. “Like any great piece of art, Harvestman contains multitudes, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for when I cracked it open. Von Till has already established himself as a great musician, and he’s about to put his stake into the ground proving himself to be a damn good writer.”For 2021, Von Till has reimagined Harvestman in a new format, delivering an intimate and captivating reading of the collection with sound enhancements. “Being a constant sound-seeker, I thought it would be more interesting to have some textures and treatments to break up the intimate voice recordings,” Von Till says of his decision to add some atmosphere to the spoken-word version of Harvestman. “The background sounds used on some of the tracks were pieces related to No Wilderness Deep Enough that were either not used or repurposed to interweave further connections between my artistic output at this time of my life.”

Von Till, Steve

Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems And Collected Lyrics By Steve Von Till

Neurot Recordings

Von Till’s first published work of original poetry together with his solo lyrics of the last 20 years. First printing, limited hardback edition beautifully illustrated with linocuts by Mazatl. Published by Astrophil Press at the University of South Dakota.

Von Till, Steve

No Wilderness Deep Enough

Neurot Recordings

Over the course of recent time, an aching, growing void has developed where a normal way of life has resided. Uncertainty abounds, and Steve Von Till’s No Wilderness Deep Enough provides a voice of existential wisdom and experience to offer comfort and perspective in an era of uncharted territory. These six pieces of music shape a hallucinatory landscape of sound that plumbs the depths of the natural world’s mysteries and uncertainties—questions that have vexed humanity since the dawn of time, asked anew amidst a backdrop that’s as haunting as it is holistic. Von Till’s fifth solo album is a swirling and iridescent blend of ambient, neo-classical, and gothic Americana that swan-dives into the darkness of modern life, with the resulting emergence a sonic document of rural psychedelia that transcends the physical world—towards a greater spiritual acceptance that connects naturalism, spiritualism, and the corporeal form.  Von Till has charted an extraordinary musical path over the last several decades, from his main duties as singer and guitarist of the boundary-breaking Neurosis to the psychedelic music of his Harvestman project and the unique folk songs he’s released under his own name. But No Wilderness Deep Enough is truly like nothing ever heard from him before—an album that’s devastatingly beautiful and overwhelming in its scope, reminiscent of the tragic ecstasy of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ recent work as well as the borderless ambient music pioneered by Brian Eno, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s glacial compositions, and the electronic mutations of Coil. 

Von Till, Steve

A Life Unto Itself

Neurot Recordings

LP REPRESSED!    A Life Unto Itself is as much the name of Steve Von Till’s fourth solo album as it is a perfect description for the 25-plus years he’s spent forging, with his brothers, the incomparable musical force that is Neurosis—not to mention the numerous sonic tapestries he’s woven with Tribes of Neurot and under his alter ego Harvestman. One can hear that deep musical history, and all the life experience that goes with it, on A Life Unto Itself.  As with his previous solo works, Von Till’s weathered, distinctive voice and sparse acoustic guitar provides the foundation. Quiet and subdued for the most part, these songs still evoke vast emotional power as Von Till’s raspy whisper dives deeply inward and speaks of visions, memories and self-reflection in a way both seasoned and exposed. While his last couple albums took on a more traditional approach with respectful nods toward Americana and Celtic ballads, A Life Unto Itself ventures into a wider variety of sonic landscapes, often borrowing from the rural psychedelia of Harvestman, weaving in strains of vintage synth and electric guitars.  Von Till was assisted in creating the album’s myriad textures by viola master Eyvind Kang, pedal steel wizard J. Kardong and percussionist Pat Schowe, all under the supervision of engineer and producer Randall Dunn, with whom he recorded and mixed the album at Avast! Recording Co. in...

Von Till, Steve

A Grave Is A Grim Horse

Neurot Recordings

Steve Von Till's third solo outing maintains his allegiance to folk traditions, but A Grave Is A Grim Horse is a much more personal and confident effort. The Neurosis singer/guitarist intertwines interpretations of songs by Nick Drake, Townes Van Zant, Mickey Newberry, and Lyle Lovett with his own powerful yet subtle, graceful originals, which stand on par with these time-honored songwriters. On songs like the title track and "Looking For Dry Land," Von Till comes into his own as a composer and arranger, perfectly adorning infectious songs with flourishes of swooping strings, pedal steel, organ, et al.  Where his previous releases showed reverence for the past, A Grave Is A Grim Horse peers directly forward, envisioning a path where others see fields.

Von Till, Steve

If I Should Fall To The Field

Neurot Recordings

***The sophomore solo album from Viking-rock pioneer, father of two, and NEUROSIS guitarist and vocal warrior STEVE VON TILL (aka STEVE VON "FUCKING" TILL). Ten intense, intricate and delicate acoustic songs delivered with majestic melodies, soaring crescendos and absolute heaviness. Howl at the moon.

Von Till, Steve

As The Crow Flies

Neurot Recordings

If Neurosis is the collective consciousness bearing down on the listener with the weight of centuries, As the Crow Flies is a brief compendium of one man’s private torments laid bare—a mere third-of-a-lifetime in the echo chamber of human history. And yet it is no less powerful, no less inclusive, no less reflective of the spirit that created it. The sixth-ever release on the band’s own Neurot Recordings, Steve Von Till’s solo debut was the first in what has become a long and illustrious line of solo recordings created by various members of Neurosis.  As the Crow Flies was originally released in May of 2000, when the world was a very different place. The historically and mythologically loaded concept of flight—be it that of birds, planes or drones—didn’t carry quite the psychic weight that it does today. At least not in the public arena. But for Von Till, a purer set of correlations was already in place—flight as freedom, flight as exploration, flight as the most fitting artistic method of scaling heights.  As such, this album is the direct path from spirit to spirit, from heart to heart, from source to ear. It’s sad and desolate. It’s sparse and introspective. There are no superfluous notes. Born of earth and stone and a respect for the power of nature, it’s everything it needs to be: A funeral for a way of life. A yearning for what lies beyond the pale. A journey in which waiting is knowing and knowing is seeing...