Stars of the Lid was the duo of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie, formed in Austin, Texas, in 1993 and released throughout its career by the label Kranky. From the debut Music for Nitrous Oxide (1995) onwards, the pair treated guitar, tape loops, strings and brass as raw material for long, slowly cresting drones that sit somewhere between ambient music and a chamber orchestra heard from very far away.
Their two late double albums, The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (2001) and And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007), are the records most often cited as the duo’s high points, valued for their patience and melancholy warmth. The first was assembled largely at a distance, with the two members mailing recordings to each other rather than sharing a studio. No further album followed the 2007 record, and McBride died in 2023.