BOOK OF SHADOWS

Book of Shadows biography
Formed in 1999, Book of Shadows are the occult North American krautrock project of vocalist Sharon Crutcher and her husband Carlton, the multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of psych-rock band ST 37. Based in Austin, Texas, Carlton departed ST 37 in 2001 during the recording of their album Down On Us in order to focus on Book of Shadows, a vehicle for Sharon's pagan/magickal themes. True to their name, Book of Shadows craft tenebrous soundscapes, concocting haunting textures out of a cauldron mixed with early Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel and Gong. Sharon's mostly-wordless vocals quiver, whisper and chant a la Gilli Smyth over a bed of morphing industrial/space ambient drones sourced from Carlton's keyboards, with further guitar, percussion, and all sorts of electronic strangeness provided by a revolving door of Austin musicians like Aaron Bennack, Eric Archer, Jonathan Horne and Carlton's former ST 37 bandmates.

Book of Shadows' style follows an uncanny (some would say Wyrd) Texan continuum of like-minded artists performing krautrock atmospherics laced with ethereal female vocals, closest in spirit to other native sons Mauve Sideshow, Charalambides and Asianova. Carlton records each studio session, live performance and rehearsal, editing the best of the material into a cohesive album; as of this writing, the duo has nearly forty releases to their name, mostly issued on limited edition CDR and cassette across an array of labels like Reverb Worship, Ikuisuus and Music Your Mind Will Love You. British musician and psych/kraut expert Julian Cope singled out 2008's 777 and 2012's Cosmos-Mother for praise in his now-defunct Address Drudion newsletter.

Book of Shadows are stylistically similar to Expo '70, Mahogany Brain, Double Leopards, My Cat Is an Alien, White Noise, Fursaxa and early Moonwood.


- Gordy, June 2024