Release
date: October 14th 2016. Label: Self Release. Format:
CD/DD/Vinyl
Skyline
Pressure – Tracklisting
1.Daisy
Cutter 13:02
2.Eye
Soar 04:42
3.Historical
Graffiti 05:40
4.Planet
Blues 06:21
5.Skyline
Pressure 05:50
6.Sonars
and Myths 14:33
7.Stalactite
Dip 03:13
8.Tangled
Forest 05:26
Band
Members:
Gary
Arce: guitars
Pieter
Holkenborg: guitars
Erik
Harbers: bass
Bill
Stinson: drums
Nico
Morcillo: guitars
Review:
Eight
years after The Robot’s Guide to Freedom, the Palm Desert based
supergroup Ten East comes back with a new journey through sound
experimentation, which heavily marked the compositional approach of
the band.
This
new release from Ten East see Gary Arce (guitar) and Bill Stinson
(drums) joined by Nico Morcillo (guitars). Plus Erik Harbers (bass),
and Pieter Holkenborg (guitar) from Automatic Sam, in what can be
called the most prolific year of Arce, already present in
Zun‘s Burial Sunrise (Small Stone Records) and Yawning
Man‘s Historical Graffiti (Lay Bare Records).
Skyline
Pressure (Small Stone Records) is a pure concentrate of psychedelia
that, in a little less than an hour, brings the listener to a higher
dimension, where jazz, stoner, and surf overtones blend masterfully.
Ten East seem to be comfortable with long instrumental sessions, as
shown in the opener Daisy Cutter, where the initial riff goes on for
over 13 minutes song like a mantra, intertwined with the echoes and
solos of the second guitar.
The
next songs, Eye Soar and Historical Graffiti, goes in the same
direction of the opener, with the guitars chasing each other while
the rhythm section masterfully sets the pace. The album flows slowly
and softly, with sudden spikes as in Planet Blues and then turning
back to lysergic sounds that accompany the listener into dreamlike
atmosphere. The long Sonar and Myths is, indeed, a long psychedelic
trip where the mastery of the four musicians blends to get lost in a
single ensemble.
The
album closes with Tangled Forest, a powerful song combining stoner
riffs with psychedelic noise, where guitars once again chasing each
other in a dramatic crescendo.
Is
kind of hard to frame Arce and colleagues to anything, as their music
is a perfect mixture of many different styles and texture. Skyline
Pressure deserves, without a doubt, more and more than a listen to be
fully appreciated. Fans of far reaching instrumental music won’t be
disappointed from the long psychedelic trip set up by Ten East.
Surely,
this is not an album for everyone, at least not for lazy listeners.
Here we go over. There is the desire (and skill) to explore different
musical terrains, pick them up and blend until all different
influences do not become one single soul. Although a lower playing
time would benefit the overall listening of the album, Skyline
Pressure is, undoubtedly, an imaginative journey through modern
psychedelia. Must listen.
Words
by Bruno Bellisario
Thanks
to Earsplit for PR for the promo. Skyline Pressure is available to
buy on CD/DD/Vinyl now from Small Stone Records.
