Jackie O Motherfucker - America Mystica

Followers of these farout Oregon rockers might have noticed them straying into more coherent, songwriterly territory on their last album, but this new collection of concert recordings and radio sessions steps firmly back into the realm of the thoroughly weird. The four long, improvised pieces here were variously recorded in the US, the UK and France with a rotating cast of players, giving each a distinct feel. The common thread is the woozy, hypnotic pace, defined by often the barest of percussion and slowly phasing waves of feedback. Vague, refracted hints of torch-song blues or Herbie Hancock-style organ jazz appear now and then, providing some of the most distinctive moments, and a couple of the pieces build to noisy peaks with impressive subtlety. The blank minimalism of some passages can be a drag, but when it works, America Mystica proves to be a fine excursion into artful abstraction.

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