Sunday, August 9, 2009

Six Organs of Admittance's Luminous Night


After having spent the better half of this decade pumping out consistently great albums, culminating in his arguable masterwork, 2005's School of the Flower, folk/American Primitivist guitarist Ben Chasny seemed to have hit a creative roadblock. The past few years have only produced reductive works, comprised of more standard songs rather than the impressionistic touches of past efforts (the latter indebted to John Fahey but having Chasny's unique voice and tone).

Chasny seems to have set out to correcting this with this year's Luminous Night. Achieving a new, more fuller sound with various instruments such as the flute and violin, he regains his more atmospheric use of raga modes and drones. "Bar-Nasha" is a perfect representation of this almagamation, and the track "Ursa Minor" provides an even more mature take on the droning textures the guitarist has always been fond of. The near-eight minute "The River of Heaven" stands as the epic of the album, building to a bliss of familiary exotic beauty that Chasny has always been recognized for.


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