(written by Islander)

We wish you a Happy June Solstice, the longest day of the year for everyone living north of the Tropic of Cancer and the shortest day for people living south of the Tropic of Capricorn. (I hope I got that right!) We also wish a Happy Father’s Day to fathers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Ireland — and maybe some other countries, but I haven’t checked. I also haven’t checked on how often the June Solstice and Father’s Day coincide here in the U.S. and in those other countries, but they’re coinciding today (the last time was in 2021).

I spent a big chunk of yesterday outside in an early celebration of Father’s Day, a day early because the dads planned to spend today with their families, and probably didn’t want those families to see how tilted they were getting during this 8-hour outing (I prefer “tilted” to “wasted” because it’s the Earth’s “tilt” that produces the solstices). The setting was beautiful, the weather was glorious, the beer was cold and plentiful, and the sun still hadn’t set here in the Pacific Northwest when I collapsed into bed around 9 p.m.

All that brightness and conviviality weren’t conducive to the contemplation of dark music. It’s still very bright where I am this morning (though fog is in my head), and looking ahead to the longest day compounds the difficulty of immersion in dark music. The sun pulls one way, the black metal pulls the other way. I’ve attempted to find an equilibrium by recommending a few things, but not as many as I might have on a different Sunday. Continue reading »