Connected Heavens
Topsy, 2021
9/10
The Seattle quartet Guest Directors continue their streak of excellent EPs, and this pandemic effort finds the artists getting more experimental than ever, where drones, loops, electronic percussion and keyboards effectively make their formula even more inimitable.
“Unknown Skies” leads the listen with warm acoustic guitar and expressive singing as a dream-folk setting builds into a dense landscape of tuneful, noisy layers of fuzz, and “When It’s All” follows with a light and airy approach that floats around with ethereal melodies.
The second half of the listen offers the darker climate of the reflective “Another Round”, where psychedelic underpinnings provide both mystery and awe, and “Dreaming Dreams” exits the listen with no shortage of shoegaze nods as a stirring atmosphere is cultivated with immeasurable skill.
Still very much rooted in dream-pop and indie-rock, Guest Directors spread their wings into unclassifiable avenues of fascinating exploration here, where Julie D (vocals, guitar, casio), Charles Russo (bass), Gary Thorstensen (guitar, vocals) and Rian Turner (drones, synth, loops, drumming) make this a very well spent 16 minutes.
Travels well with: The Royal Arctic Institute- Sodium Light; Japan- Quiet Life