Sun Araw - Sun Ark Prayer Tapes Vol 1

We here at the Towers are rather fond of Cameron Stallones, the one-man tranquility generator and his weird washed out minimal dub-inflected psychedelia, and the tapes that come in from his Sun Ark label are always well worth a listen. This one here is no exception. His most recent album, 2LP epic Ancient Romans, suggested a move away from the more abrasive and overdriven textures of his earlier output, and heading into more cosmic, therapeutic territory. That seems to be the case here, too, but this tape is looser and more playful and melodic than its sprawling predecessor (which took me a few listens to fully get to grips with) and could be the most immediate thing I've heard from our Cam yet. Great shambling awkward loops of bassy synth and scratchy wah guitar are the order of the day, with the occasional moment of loose free improvisation. Sometimes it'll just drop down to a meditative drone with playful melodic high-end twinkling. There's a place on the second side where there's just these weird minimal stabbing synth loops that sound great on this format and not only provide melodic structure but a also draw attention to the silence in which they exist to create a real psychedelic sense of space for his bonged-out little flourishes to play around in. I wish I was at home listening to this with an Irish coffee and a big greasy joint...I may have just figured out what I'm doing this evening.