Ancestors
Of Sound Mind

A Syd Barrett high on LSD, struck on the road to Damascus by the dusty American post-rock of Isis, Callisto, and Neurosis, pushed to the boundaries of pachyderm and expansive doom-drone of Sunn O))), Earth, and Boris, or the Italian 2Novembre, which often shares the ominous and martial atmospheres and alienating electronics, with more than a wink towards '70s prog of King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, emerging forcefully in the lengths of tracks worthy of a Bruckner symphony, in the sophisticated and deliberately baroque melodies, and in the skillful and measured use of a crimsonian Hammond organ that eases the tension built by a stoner and obsessive drumming, guitars at times Gilmourian, at times macabre as only a drone stomach punch can be, and a sometimes oppressive and gloomy electronics.

This could probably be the most fitting description for the alienating work of this Los Angeles quintet, which already garnered attention a year ago with the challenging two-track Neptune With Fire, and yet it would still be a description that wouldn't entirely do justice to the original work these guys have created in a cross-genre territory unfortunately more niche in the current American scene. Because Of Sound Mind is not simply the algebraic sum of psychedelia + '70s prog + post-rock + doom-drone-stoner. It is one of those rare cases in contemporary discography where the mixture of different influences potentially yields results more interesting than the mere sum of the parts, creating its own sound and capable of bringing together and speaking the same language to very different musical subjects.

I believe I can't say much else; a track-by-track analysis would be reductive and unfair on such a work. I can only recommend to all those who recognize themselves in at least one of the musical influences I mentioned to start looking for this small and unexpected musical gem of 2009 from now, and immediately lose themselves among the notes of that long prog-doom ride that is "The Trial", immediately followed, as if to ride the tension and musical climax created, by the post-romantic piano introduction of "Challenging", so unpredictable in its jumps, in its rich harmonies willingly at the edge of dissonance, almost worthy of the best Liszt or Rachmaninov.

Few, including myself, expected such an artistically similar product in the final stretch of the year coming to an end, which has given rise so far only to human cases of doubtful artistic value.