Black Dirt Oak/Jantar: Presage split 12″ EP (MIE Music, 2015)

August 11, 2015 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Black Dirt Oak/Jantar: Presage split 12″ EP

Black Dirt Oak are affiliated with Pigeons, but unlike that group’s more poppy, song-based psych explorations, BDO are more rambling and free-form. Their lengthy instrumentals have more electronic textures, and are influenced by Krautrock and dub as well as folk and jammy psychedelic rock. They lock into rhythms, but they still keep things loose and squishy. Actually, “Magic Hat” seems to very loosely hang onto its rhythm (but it’s still there), and “Fjordside” takes over 5 minutes of riding an organ drone before the drums come in. And then there’s the far-away vocals and trippy flutes. Both tracks seem to transcend time and go by a lot quicker than they would seem to. Not much is known about Jantar (yet), but their two compositions take their time, with every slowly paced piano and flute note making an impact. “Night From Four Martyrs” stretches to nearly 10 minutes, with the last 4 featuring layers of guitar noise in the background, while the piano still paces back and forth in the foreground. “Pull Out That Poison Dart” begins as a cocoon of reversed guitars, from which gentle, steady drums and mantra-like vocals emerge. And then they disappear, leading the piece to slowly fade away and retire.

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