Lost In The Sky's Dream

I was introduced to San Francisco's Sleepy Sun a couple of weeks ago and cannot stop listening...nor could I resist the sweetness of their sound on vinyl.  Both Embrace and Fever, their first two albums, arrived by post this weekend.  Their third, Spine Hits, will be released April 10th and supported by a lengthy tour.  I've preordered my copy at The End Records' webstore for a mere $12.99.  Rumor has it that we came very close to getting a tour date right here in Peterborough, NH that fell through...quite disappointing.

I love high grade vinyl...too much, perhaps.  Both these discs are top notch pressings and filled with classic rock haze.  Like when the sun is muted behind a veil of passing clouds that eventually break and give passage to the intensity of light, energy, and warmth - Sleepy Sun oscillate beautifully between the shimmer of mellow psychedelic hippy jams and an electric cascade of stoner fuzz rock-and-roll.  The softest moments are stripped down to acoustic folk ditties, while the heaviest are rich with warm distortion and falling-tree riffs.  It's quite possible that Sleepy Sun are equally as influenced by Simon and Garfunkel as they are early Black Sabbath.  Vocals throughout are smooth and robust, featuring male and female voice in duet and lush harmony.  The integration of all these elements couldn't be more fluid and natural; Sleepy Sun make lovely, lovely work.

Wild Machines (Fever)

Golden Artifact Official Video (Embrace)

I highly recommend checking them out, with Fever as a starting point.

Birds & Trees: Redwing Blackbird & Arborea @ Mindful Books

February 4, 2012.  I had not been to Jaffrey's Mindful Books in years.  Last night I finally made my way back to scope out The Listening Room - a series of intimate musical performances.  This instance featured New Hampshire's own Redwing Blackbird and Maine's Arborea.

Redwing Blackbird had indeed been busy since the last time I caught them.  That I could tell, their set featured only new songs - Austin putting down his six nylon strings in exchange for solid-body electricity.  The folky acoustic duo here offered a hybrid flavor: strumming and plucking was married to shimmering and warmly driven amplified textures.  Mellow, humble songwriting and sincere words sung true and harmonized, remained present and unmistakable.  Hearing RWBB play is like getting a hug from a good friend: inviting, calm, refreshing, and reassuring.  I'm very much looking forward to their next record, and you should be too.

Redwing Blackbird - Nightingale live on NHPR

Husband and wife Buck and Shanti Curran, a.k.a Arborea, play a delightful blend of airy psychedelic folk/folk rock.  A wide variety of instrumentation lends itself to the sweet and sweeping musical backdrop as the duo switch on and off.  The twanging of banjo or ukulele, droning of harmonium, or combination timbre of ban-jammer is paired with guitar - sometimes an electric played with EBow or glass slide, other times a steel-string acoustic carefully strummed.  This is all transcended by Shanti's crystalline empyrean voice that effortlessly moves through the room and into your chest.  Arborea soaks in to your heart and finds it's way to the part of you that resides below surface-level patterns and drama.  There it steeps, adding strength to one's purpose and ease to unfolding.  Just close your eyes and be.

Arborea - Black Is The Color

Last night was much needed.  I've lately found myself in a restricted space, out of tune...unmotivated and unaligned with love.  Meeting some new people and sharing the gift of these two band's music, energy, and motion has helped to remind me of where I am called to be - floating along again as my own vector of life's great current, rather than an entity separate and caught in its tides.  Thank you.

A Near-Metal Experience

Boston's Junius have released a new record, to which I am listening at this very moment thanks to my friend Justin Hull who introduced the band to me a couple of years ago.  Reports From The Threshold Of Death is just lovely work: thoughtful and heartfelt, poppy yet heavy, abrasive yet smooth, and most predominantly - full.

The album maintains a wonderful motif of fullness, lightness, and understanding.  Even the heavy parts are somehow ethereal and soothing in a way that I find unique to this record.  Full spectrum sound sweeps through your speakers as a singularity - one comprised from a swirling chorus of voice, airy synth pads, distorted guitar grit, and tidy well-placed percussion.  At times it feels like the epic soundtrack to a surreal and fantastical film, full of astounding otherworldly images.  Vocals are simple and straightforward - void of the gimmicks and trends that seem to infect today's rock genres like plagues.  There is certainly both confidence and maturity at work here; nowhere is there overcompensation or even a single note or beat that does not fit.  Junius are doing what they do, not answering to any particular expectation.

Reports From The Threshold Of Death rejuvenates the listener with a calm clarity.  The deafening silence met at the end of the album is a testament to the richness of its sound...it leaves the listener in content reflection.  There is no urge to respin this record after a complete observation...not because it isn't a great record, but because it is a different kind of great record: one that is whole and complete just as it is - not in need and not in surplus...and that is quite special.

The vinyl pressing is excellent.  I opted for the band's website-only edition which is an exquisitely gorgeous piece of vinyl, which you can see below - a very nice complement to the album's artwork.

Junius have clearly reached new ground, and their footing is sure and solid.  Where their next climb will take them should be very interesting indeed.

A Course In Mindscrew Consonance

From the opening percussion and hand-clapping of Split The Lark to the heavy powertrip and stuttering finale of Width Of The Tunnel, Brainstorm's Battling Giants more than pleases the ear with interesting musical antics and fun ideas...all executed in such a way that appeals equally to the inner child, musician, and poet.  This is some seriously creative indie rock from Portland, OR.

Photo From Brainstorm Facebook page.

The sometimes overlapping and/or harmonized vocals ebb and flow, usually crescendoing just in time for squiggly, trilling guitars to writhe in distortion or fuzz, scampering around their favorite scale and crashing into walls of power chord waves.  Rattlesnaking, jangling, and thumping percussion manages to ride along and keep things as "structured" as they'll get.  Brass makes its way into the mix rather randomly at points in the record, teaming up with some synth goodness for the poppy title track.  The anthemic We Are Free resurrects a spirit from the 1960's, while Bottom Of The Sea adds some southern fried, foot-stomping folk-and-roll.  Uh Oh Black Hole! is something like They Might Be Giants performing a traditional Russian dance for the first surfing astronaut brigade.  Impressively, Brainstorm know just when and where to take their songs...nothing here is forced or feels contrived - it's zany not by design, but by nature...and it all works brilliantly.  It's hard to believe this is just two guys (with occasional guest female vocals).

Catchy, inventive, and full of energy, Brainstorm are an exploratory playground of awesomeness...like a rock-and-roll ice cream truck operated by a poetry professor - and it's just as beautiful as it is unusual.  You have to hear it for yourself...

The entire album is available on their bandcamp page here.  It is highly recommended.  5/5