THE ASCENSIONIST
Genesis. The path begins again.
Release Date: 09.22.2017
The Ascensionist is the eighth canonical RANGES release and the first to debut on 12" vinyl. With it came a turning point, both a return and a redefinition.
It marks a delineation between what came before and what would follow. The earlier records had suggested a loose narrative arc, but The Ascensionist reorders and reframes them under a newly defined structure. The album becomes the lens through which the past is reinterpreted and the future is forecast.
At its core is The Mountain, a singular symbol chosen to represent the journey of ascent. The motif expands beyond the literal into metaphor, exploring the process of rising through sound, intention, and will. The Mountain is no longer geography. It is structure.
Each track functions as a reframing of a prior release. The Wanderer reflects AB SA RO KA. Seven Sisters reframes Solar Mansions. Called Not To A New Religion, But To Life returns to Bonhoeffer. The Greater Lights and The Lesser Lights unify Night & Day. Seven Veils recalls If I Were The Devil. In The Arms Of Kings And Gods integrates The Gods Of The Copybook Headings and And The People Cried Out For A King. Babylon The Great gestures forward toward the trials yet to come in Babel.
The album does not simply stand beside the earlier work. It reorganizes it.
The title track serves as a fractal structure, its internal movements mirroring the larger ascent. The accompanying music video reinforces this symbolic layering, offering visual cues to the architecture forming beneath the surface.
The original pressing of 250 vinyl copies included The Ascent, a handmade booklet presented as a ritual journal. It traced the Ascensionist’s progress through the seven prior albums, each represented by a distinct symbol discovered and recorded as The Lexicon. This symbolic system would later return in The Path of the Ascensionist cassette series, embedding the architecture into physical artifacts.
It is also here that a new sigil begins to appear within the developing language of The Lexicon: The Blade. Where The Cube represents origin and form, The Blade introduces division, precision, and the act of deliberate separation. The symbolic language sharpens. Structure becomes intentional.
Within The Arcana, The Ascensionist occupies Column One of Octave Two. In The Lexicon, this position corresponds to The Cube. Column One is always genesis. In Octave One, genesis appeared as wilderness and unformed matter. In Octave Two, genesis becomes recognition. The climb is no longer unconscious. The map is drawn.
Across The Mirror, The Ascensionist is answered by album fourteen, the final position of Octave Two. Column One begins the octave in conscious genesis. Column Seven must close it in conscious integration. If The Ascensionist reveals The Mountain and names the climb, its reflection must demonstrate what it means to descend with structure intact. The beginning of the octave declares the path. The end of the octave must embody it.
The summit reveals another range.
A limited Deluxe Edition of The Ascensionist was produced in an edition of 33 copies. Each set was assembled by hand by the band in Bozeman, Montana and was conceived as a physical extension of the album rather than a conventional merchandise bundle.
At its center was The Ascensionist pressed on 180 gram milky clear and bone A side / B side vinyl, accompanied by a compact disc edition and a digital download of the album. Surrounding the music were a series of handmade and custom objects created specifically for the release. A handmade booklet, fashioned and assembled by the band, served as a tactile companion to the record, while a custom tea stained and hand printed slipmat introduced another layer of texture to the listening experience.
The edition also extended beyond traditional packaging through the inclusion of The Ascensionist Coffee, roasted in Bozeman by Ghost Town Coffee, along with handmade ceramic mugs bearing the Ranges logo. The set was completed with a hand printed shirt, a selection of Ranges stickers, and the accompanying digital materials.
Every copy of the Deluxe Edition was packed and assembled by hand. As a result, each set carried small variations that made every example slightly different. Within the broader history of Ranges releases, the Deluxe Edition of The Ascensionist stands as an early example of the band’s approach to creating physical artifacts around an album, merging music, handcrafted materials, and elements of place into a single object.