SubArachnoid Space
Eight Bells

I have always promised myself to give these Subarachnoid Space a listen, reading praises upon praises from various sources, mentions of bands spiritually close to me, improbable comparisons, and whatnot; but for one reason or another, I never did, none of the previous albums entered my listening sessions, no note from their guitars had graced my ears before now, before this latest work of theirs: "Eight bells".

These are the first notes of theirs that I listen to, as mentioned, and I must say I have missed something, perhaps something important along the way: psychedelic flourishes, liquid and floating flights of fancy, dazzling darkness of distortions never excessively gloomy but wide and enveloping, rosy melodies on amorphous and airborne soundscapes. A journey, to lands perhaps already known, not too long ago, already charted by the scattered acid dreamers such as Isis, but especially Pelican and Red Sparowes, yet full of voluminous and almost timeless personality.

Not a single breath uttered, like the last two aforementioned groups, music and instrumental emotions, entirely at the service of that guitar (Melynda Jackson) that draws, draws and sculpts at the same time those landscapes so visionary and dreamlike.

Beautiful, at times widely moving, the only flaw: some solutions needed to be developed further and better elaborated, while the CD slips away too quickly (36 minutes is really too little for a product of this kind) but it's like finding a needle in a haystack for an album that is enjoyable to listen to, and that takes the mind and body on a journey, hypnotizing and fascinating.

Now I will listen to the discography in reverse, I hope to be dazzled again!