Arm of the Starfish

Fifth full-length release from the outdoor wandering The Blithe Sons, the Jewelled Antler-related duo of Loren Chasse (Of, Thuja) and Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Thuja). Performed mostly in coastal California environs on acoustic and battery-powered instruments, the sound of waves, wind, tide pools, seabirds and shifting sand plays an active role in these minimalist folk atmospheres. Incorporating 12-string cuatro, acoustic guitar, dulcimer, banjo, harmonium, percussion, toy amplifiers, wood flutes, Thai mouthorgan, violin-uke, Casio and Donaldson's mysterious vocal utterances, Arm evokes haunted shorelines, windswept cliffs and vast undersea caverns.

" ... authentic inner-space travelers who build walls of feedback that quake like barely cooled pudding. Unlike the classic synth-drenched freaks of yore (Floyd, Spacemen 3, etc.), though, the Sons employ gratuitous, and gratuitously distorted, environmental noises, which better not make you think of quaintly chirping crickets, surf gently breaking, or a cassette of whale sounds. Over five eerie folk mantras, they transform waves and wind into an ominous roar that's liable to loosen the speaker cones from your cabinets. What would one call this racquet? Sandalgazing? I don't fucking know. Call it nature turned up to 11. It is massive, and it sounds wicked sweet. " -- Justin F. Farrar, San Francisco Weekly