Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - This is a Mindfulness Drill [Opaque Black & White Explosion]

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - This is a Mindfulness Drill [Opaque Black & White Explosion]On limited Opaque Black & White Explosion color vinyl. Somewhere along the way, I got the idea that Richard Youngs's 'Sapphie' was all about a dead dog. I don't know if someone insinuated this idea in front of me or if I psychologically tethered the title to the tenderly printed dog paw on it's cover. Either way, I've gone over a decade thinking this remarkable, windswept album of torch songs was about a dearly departed pet. And yet, as we approached

Halifax's Kestrels live out a guitar freak's wildest fantasies

Welcome To The Chaos

was noted in a number of Best of 2015 lists (including Uncut

singing other people's lyrics

the album echoes the influence of his own guitar heroes including Warren Haynes

Turunen on piano

" and an original

sounding less like a studio creation and more like a transmission buried beneath centuries of snow

is the most accessible and pop-inflected from his entire catalogue

Hail of Bullets

and dousing the whole thing in spacy psychedelia worthy of Can

parted ways