Ahhh...there's nothing like starting a sunny Sunday morning with a mug of hot water, a stick of sweet incense, and some mood music. Jon Porras' new record Black Mesa wastes no time getting right to things; immediately our ears are met with a twangy, lush, and airy motif that sets the tone for the rest of the record.
The elders speak of the great Black Mesa, a mysterious and introspective space; a place seekers wish to explore in hopes of an initiation to a deeper plane of awareness. There is something up there, on or within the plateau...an organic mirror that reflects our true self with no bias. By way of the mirror we become the third person experiencing the extremes of both our positive and negative. Undulations of emotion trigger memories and dreams that move us, and move through us, until a stillness takes hold. Then through careful watching and breathing, our light and our shadow become one, and inseparable from the light and shadow of the world.
Porras captures the essence and ritual, not only of this figurative mirror, but also of the journey to discover it. Preparing ourselves for the spiritual rite, working our way to the top of the mesa, and following our instinctual guides to where we need to be taken. Our time on the Black Mesa is well spent in roaming and searching the dark corners of ourselves...and through an understanding of our cosmic composition, casting brilliant and boundless healing light into our own hearts.
I was not aware that this record existed until Jon Porras mentioned it to me last autumn during the Lost In The Glare tour stop in Allston, MA. Garden Sound was a one-off collaboration project by Barn Owl (Evan Caminiti & Jon Porras) with Dewey Mahood and Jed Bindeman of Eternal Tapestry. When hunting down the quite limited pressing of Black Summit, I surprisingly stumbled upon a like-new copy which I purchased for fifteen American dollars. A great find.
Knowing both the sound of Barn Owl and Eternal Tapestry, Black Summit sounds pretty much like one would anticipate...and this is not a bad thing in the slightest. Dewey and Jed are here providing ET's garage psych rock foundation - even steady beats and percussive accents to repeating guitar motifs and variations on thereof. Barn Owl fill in the gaps with drone and feedback, topping off the mix with light touches of entrancing chiming nuances left to ring out.
The record exudes a mystic atmosphere - not overbearingly dark, but heavily foreboding. As the observer it is often easy to feel as though you are on the edge, waiting for the break, fall, or spill to take take you to a plateau of resolution. This may be because, though relaxed, there is often more going on than at first glance. The three guitars overlap, complementing and augmenting each other in a way that embraces the leading edge of presence...something often experienced in good improvisation; Black Summit has a bit of that live vibe. You can feel each piece working to carry things through from one section to the next quite naturally...but also that it could have happened in any number of ways. The percussion seems to effortlessly reel things in and keep it grounded - from getting too drawn or too stagnant. The second track (found below) is the heaviest and most immediately intense of the four, in which each element is more narrowly focused on creating a particular and singular whole sound movement.
I'm very happy with my purchase. Black Summit has made a lovely and unique addition to my collection.
