CD edition: Luminous Night is the first set of new Six Organs Of Admittance material to leap forth from Ben Chasnys' cerebral cortex in 18 months, and what a joy it is. With the release of odds-and-sods collection RTZ earlier in the year there to bridge the gap between 2007s Shelter From The Ash it doesn't seem like he's been away for long per se but for serious Chasny-heads a new album is something to get pretty excited about and with his other musical outlet Comets On Fire either on extended hiatus or split for good (answers on a postcard please!). This collection of eight songs is his best and most realised work since 2005's School Of The Flower, an album where his unique vision seemed to take a step forward in its application. At times hypnotic and otherworldly, it's a soothing, unsettling and challenging listen.
Having upped sticks from California and made the trek up to the wyrd leafy confines of Washington State, Chasny seems to have stumbled across a band of local musicians perfectly suited to his vision. With tablas, flutes, fuzz guitar and viola pushed to the fore, we're in total pysch heaven. Capturing all this psychedelic gumbo is pre-eminent underground knob twiddler Randall Dunn, who has produced and engineered some of this decades more outré releases by the likes of Sunn O))), Earth and Kinski. Set the controls indeed… (DROWNED IN SOUND)