Saturday, June 1, 2013

Golden Pawn - This Lake is a Misty Mirror (SS17)






music with which to embrace the day.  peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)


Tranquil synth, piano and guitar paeans, with a brief - and thoroughly enjoyable - detour through crystal-covered environs transform the day.  Gentle, benevolent passages of sound caress your head as the morning comes into the day.  The second outing from Golden Pawn, on Space Slave, is the kind of music that one takes with them throughout the day.  This Lake is a Misty Mirror finds Mark Kuykendall, of The New Honey Shade, Andrew Bones, and Scissor Tail Records and Talk West head honcho, Dylan Golden Aycock disseminating idyllic, serene vibrations.  Being familiar with Dylan and Mark's solo output, I'm not surprised by the synergy.  Yet, it's more beautiful than I previously imagined.  Exquisite ambient music manifests in ways in which one cannot imagine. And, that's the story here as hazy warmth slowly envelops the room, billowing with each breath.  Even more, one can discern that much effort went into realizing the beauty of these tracks.

'Rolie Polie' opens the tape as opaque, hazy notes reverberate and tingle among field recordings.  There is a comfortable, languorous pace to this track.  Resonant beams of soothing sound jut out from this hiss to illuminate the mix.  Especially near the end, the adept use of space augments the lovely sounds.  In the second track, 'Golden Pond' Rhodes like tones  swell and glisten in the presence of idyllic instrumentation.  The last track on side A, 'Deccahondricondle', differs from the others.  Incipient energy slowly asserts itself with echoing voluminous tones that ripple prior to descending - similar to some of Miles Davis' melancholy moments.  Soon heady rhythms and cosmic synth pervade the track.  The rhythms disappear, and a drone shimmers while being circumscribed by oscillations - my favorite track!  The flip contains the sidelong title track, 'This Lake is a Misty Mirror'.  I could listen to this track on repeat throughout the day.  There is a quiescent beauty about this track.   Gentle guitars combine with piano that glistens.  Poignancy becomes audible in the middle.  Yet, the flowering gentleness still shines through the surface.

Unequivocally top shelf vibes on this tape. I thoroughly enjoyed the eclectic batch to which this tape belongs.  Released in an edition of 50 with hand-painted stock, it is sold out at the source.  However, Meditations still has the tape in stock.  A special tape on a blossoming label, it deserves ones full attention.
 
peace and love, friends :)