Princess Dismal by dead lizard grin

released December 4, 2020

| Synthesizers | Samples | Programming | Design |
by Terry Skaggs

"Princess Dismal" was completed in November 2019 and contains elements recorded in July 2017

"The Zero Point" was intended for "Notes From A Temporary World" but left off due to time considerations

"aremefe" put together while working on "Aspirations"

Final mixing and mastering August - November 2020

A review:

No spread of the Reader's local-music coverage would be complete without a fresh entry from Rock Island’s resident ambient/drone kingpin Terry Skaggs, a.k.a. dead lizard grin. He bills his December release Princess Dismal as “an assemblage from the past year featuring pieces that didn't find homes in other releases,” and we can consider ourselves lucky that these takes made their way out into the public. The two part title track stretches over the course of 25-plus minutes that ultimately prove even more spectral than most of his other recent work, as both parts highlight virtually empty spreads of single synth tones that crest into view in long, slow waves of activity. Skaggs’ attention to detail in the sculpting and presentation of his synth voices ensures that even the more minimal side of his craft, presented mostly without contrasting sound sources or interlocked synth elements, proves just as captivating for listeners to sink into and float away for a while. A track titled “The Zero Point” sits at the heart of Princess Dismal, and winds through a side-long, 18-minute slab of dissonant drone and ghostly synth leads that ups the intensity level a few notches above the title track(s). The track’s extended narrative finds room for electronic banshee howls in no regularly discernible tonality, angelic pad passages that land closer to a major key bliss-out, and widescreen workouts that fill the stereo spread with quivering synth voices.

www.rcreader.com/music/local-music-bandcamp-sampler-jan2021