The press release for this intriguing collection sums it up perfectly – described as ‘the dreamlike sound environments designed by the Mesa Recordings crew to accompany the mysterious and transcendental art presented by Meow Wolf at the House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico’. What this means to you as a listener is a set of subtly inventive sound constructions that sound lovely on headphones. The slow, ethereal shifting of the keyboard in Mi’s ‘Beam Space’, with Tara Khozein, makes a lasting impression, while in some of the more obviously improvised tracks there is a nice, meandering guitar line (Mi’s ‘Last Drop) or a bright stream of consciousness (Feathericci’s ‘Woody’). Meanwhile Mi’s ‘Last Minute’ is an effective blend of lean lower strings, soft upper strings and free, floating harp, and David Last’s ‘Saloon’ sounds like a piano in an empty fairground has been superimposed. Volume 3 is out very shortly – but don’t miss this collection of aural delights.
Ben Hogwood
5 out of 5
VARIOUS ARTISTS – MEOW WOLF’S HOUSE OF ETERNAL RETURN: SOUNDSCAPES VOL. 2 (MESA RECORDINGS)
