Vestals :: Forever Falling Toward the Sky :: Root Strata

The solo debut from Vestals--one half of Higuma, the other half being Evan Caminiti from Barn Owl--has emerged from the seriously well-executed label, Root Strata. Forever Falling Toward the Sky emits steady low-level radiation with its slowed down psych guitar work. The atmo's not as amniotic as the recent Higuma transmission, but it's easily as warm and washed out. This will be making best-of lists at year's end without a doubt.

Here's the word from Root Strata:

'Forever Falling Toward the Sky' is the first ever release by Bay Area based Vestals, AKA Lisa McGee. A taught set of haunting electric ballads, these six tracks weave together a number of layered guitars and vocals into a smokey tapestry of blown electricity. Rather than the ephemeral drones McGee has been involved with recently, most notably the group-mind ensemble Portraits & the duo Higuma, Vestals retains the clarity of song, with these hypnotic gems having been slowly carved out over a year of recording & mixing. Filled out with drum machine & bass, 'Forever Falling Toward the Sky' really does have the feeling of a group completely jelled, hammering out feedback in a California basement, high on guitar worship & sunsets. Edition of 300.

The vinyl edition is being distributed by Thrill Jockey and it's limited to 300 copies. You can be damn sure I ordered mine.

Vestals :: Forever Falling

Review :: Barn Owl :: Lost in the Glare

Barn Owl :: Turiya

Where the fuck did everybody go? Alright, alright, this one's on me. Been brooding in caves for some time now, slurping on the black blood of the earth, cause there's not much else to sustain you down there. Came up with a good find, though. Kinda wish I hadn't been hiding out, avoiding tall buildings and noisy girls who carry on about their wedding plans and their much loved dachshunds with more personality than them. "What prep school did you go to? Oh, you didn't go? I guess you must be poor." Shit yeah, I'm poor.

This San-Fran drone band takes me back to my school cafeteria days. Pass your tray down and let me slop some psych on it for you. What, you don't like black blood of the earth? Guess you'll just have to starve then.  

Lost in the Glare plays like the soundtrack to a Jodorowsky movie, the heavy, slow riffs are full of one-armed bleeding men wandering the desert with their palms smacked flat against their brow, stuck in the moment of realization that they had to do a whole lot of fucking up to find themselves in their current situation. Lead-off track, "Pale Star," is a grower with solar flare moments of noise and "The Darkest Night Since 1683" has about five solid minutes of burn in it. So, yeah, make sure you pack a lot of water for this trip.

Barn Owl played Dirty City's Sonic Circuits this past Sunday and made it down to Hopscotch before that. The new full-length's out now on Thrill Jockey. Find it and buy it.


Barn Owl - Turiya from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.