Ben Chasny has busied himself releasing a solid run of outsider folk records for some time now; ‘The Sun Awakens’ is his eighth full-length outing and thankfully it shows no signs of Chasny letting his quality control wane. As he explored on his last Drag City release ‘School of the Flower’, Chasny has again employed a handful of collaborators to fill-out his unique sound with percussion and odd instruments – yet this doesn’t distil the fact that the record is totally his own. "The Sun Awakens" feels like a spiritual re-awakening, a hazy memory of Celtic pagan ritualism and cave dwelling heretics, a banishment from society, a drowning at the hands of a cruel township or a dive from the top of a crumbling cliff – it is intensely visual and is steeped in history, musical and otherwise. This is the album Ben Chasny has been promising for some time now, and I’m happy to tell you he’s delivered – now go and get yourself that crimson cloak and staff.