From Moon to Moon: Completing the Arc of Harvestman’s ‘Triptych’ Trilogy

As of October 17th, under the glow of the Hunter’s Moon, Harvestman releases the final installment of the Triptych trilogy. It’s hard not to feel a creeping sense of finality—not the finality of death, but the cyclical finality of autumn: a season of harvest, of drawing inward, of preparing for the long dark. It’s fitting, then, that Steve Von Till should choose this moment to complete his ambitious trilogy under the Harvestman moniker, a project that has spanned the lunar year from Pink Moon to Buck Moon, and now to Hunter’s Moon.

Title: Triptych Trilogy
Artist: Harvestman
Release Date: 2024-10-17
Genres: Experimental Music, Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock
Description: Harvestman’s 'Triptych' trilogy weaves a dense narrative of sound, ritual, and folklore, traversing krautrock and psychedelic influences across three sonic chapters.

Spanning more than two decades of creation, the Triptych trilogy is a deeply meditative work that pulls listeners into its primal atmospheres. At its core, the trilogy is heavily influenced by European folklore and the natural world, with Steve Von Till weaving a narrative that intertwines krautrock, analog synthesizers, dub reinterpretations, and extended, hypnotic tracks.

Von Till, best known as the gravel-voiced shaman fronting post-metal titans Neurosis, has long used Harvestman as a vehicle for his more esoteric explorations. With Triptych, he’s created a sprawling psychedelic opus that feels like a cartography of the unconscious, mapping the lingering echoes of our primordial past that still reverberate through the standing stones and burial mounds of our ancestral landscapes.

Each part of the trilogy opens with a monolithic track, a sonic megolith around which the rest of the album orbits. These opening salvos – ‘Give Your Heart’, ‘The Hag of Beara vs the Poet’, and the upcoming ‘Clouds Are Relatives’ – are immersive pieces that create hypnotic layers of sound, seemingly dilating time itself.

The first part of the trilogy continues with ‘Coma,’ extending this exploration through a symphony of ethereal and esoteric sounds. The track suspends the listener in a liminal space between consciousness and dream. “How to Purify Mercury” further ventures into psychedelic territories.

‘Nocturnal Field Song’ envelops the listener in dark atmospheres, evoking the sensation of traversing a forest under the cloak of night. The music conveys a sense of anticipation, as if something enigmatic stirs within the shadows. ‘More and Foal’ introduces a folkloric element, reminiscent of the experimental sounds of Faust, with distorted bagpipes resonating through the fog.

With Triptych Part Two, the exploration deepens into mystical territories. “The Hag of Beara vs the Poet” opens with a monumental track steeped in psychedelia, characterized by dub basslines and reverberating layers that intertwine in a litanic composition.

“The Falconer” expands the sonic atmospheres further, enveloping the listener in mystical soundscapes that suggest soaring heights and vast open spaces. ‘Damascus’ unfurls like a fever dream, its ominous synth drones and echoing percussion calling to mind the unsettling psychedelic folk horror of ‘The Wicker Man‘.

“Vapour Phase” is an experimental interplay of synthesizers that release sonic clouds of white noise, while “Galvanized and Torn Open” carries cinematic undertones, subtly echoing the influence of Ennio Morricone.

The final installment, Triptych Part Three, brings the trilogy to a resonant culmination. Clouds Are Relatives is a psychedelic mantra. Snow Spirits opens with an arpeggiator that mimics the restless nature of ancestral entities, as the track progresses with a galloping pace through threatening specters. Eye the Unconquered Flame is an experimental piece where the voice of Ezra Pound merges with oriental and psychedelic atmospheres. The Absolute Nature of Light combines acoustic-folkloric elements with expansive psychedelic atmospheres. Heme’s Oak is a slow experimental/psychedelic track featuring synthesizers, distortions, and distant echoes. Cumba Uisdein is the final krautrock piece that concludes this meditative and intricately crafted trilogy by Harvestman.

Throughout the trilogy, Von Till makes judicious use of guest collaborators, each adding their own distinct flavour to the brew. The presence of The Bug on Part Three promises to add a welcome dose of bass weight to proceedings, while the contributions of YOB’s Aaron Rieseberg and Neurosis compatriot Dave Edwardson.

It’s telling that Von Till has chosen to structure each part of the trilogy identically – the epic opener, the dub reinterpretation at track four, the folk-tinged krautrock closer. This is music that’s acutely aware of its own ritualistic nature. Triptych is a work that asks you to sit with it, to give yourself over to its slow-building rhythms and gradually unfurling textures. In doing so, it offers a form of meditation, something older and stranger, a communion with the weird, wild roots of human consciousness.

When the Hunter’s Moon rises on October 17th, completing the cycle that began with the Pink Moon back in April, listeners will have the chance to experience Triptych in its entirety. One suspects that this is how the work is truly meant to be absorbed – not as individual albums but as a complete psychedelic pilgrimage through the hidden landscapes of mind and memory. 

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others