Dust and Chimes

Limited edition reissue of Dust & Chimes by Six Organs of Admittance, Ben Chasny's second amazing, underground folk-psych project from behind California's Redwood curtain. Heavy acoustic guitar and mumbled vocalizations merge with out-there jamming in a style that's been compared to guys on Takoma (though Dust & Chimes is actually closer to the first two TRex albums). After a brief, textural opening, Dust and Chimes rekindles the aplomb of "Visnu" with a mortal vs. guitar death dance called "Assyria"; it soon subsides into a calmer, introspective mood. The simple riffs are rooted in American folk, but suggestive of an Ottoman court. Six Organs stick with bare-bones song arrangements -- most cuts are dressed up with overdubbed chimes and bells, and three are direct-to-tape acoustic slices. The understated nature of the songs -- often serving primarily as launch pads for extended acoustic extemporization -- dictates that the album grows on the listener rather than convinces in a single play. The solos are delicate, subdued, as is the album as a whole.