2011, Tee Pee Records

Weird Owl, the Brooklyn band that creates music by "searching out the convergence of imagination, poetry and sound," releases Build Your Beast A Fire, the follow up to the band's 2009 debut Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed. Beast was recorded at Verdant Studio in Vermont with Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Witch, Sonic Youth) and The Drawing Room in Kingston, NY with Bishop Allen's Justin Rice. Weird Owl's sound comes from several ages at once. Most obviously, the band is rooted in '60s psychedelia, but there's also a strong surge of '70s rock pushing through much its music. Influences of blues and Americana can be found in the slide guitar playing and yet there are heavy songs throbbing with reverb-drenched guitar, but still possessing a Crazy Horse like back-to-the-land feel. The vocals also bring to mind Neil Young's singular yelp, cutting nasally and angularly through the mix. Hypnotic and spell binding, the band presents a truly rich, spiritually-minded psychedelic experience; this is pastoral-prog, where mood trumps volume. First formed in 2004, Weird Owl crafts sonic mindscapes inspired by legendary acts such as the 13th Floor Elevators and given life through a voice closer to the odd clarity of mid-era Pink Floyd mixed with the synthesized textures of The Flaming Lips. The band's sound has been excellently referred to as "a sonic mind fog."