Deep Time

Formerly known as Yellow Fever, Austin’s Deep Time continues a musical excursion that's as buoyant as a toy sailboat while also mysteriously weighty. Jennifer Moore plays the sparest of guitar parts and sings in a voice that's glassy and coolly hollow but also fleet and melodically adroit. Adam Jones keeps his percussive parts as simple and unadorned as Moore’s guitar, resulting in a truly minimalist pop sound. As on the duo's sole release as Yellow Fever (self-titled, 2009), the songs here are padded with pristine white space. Moore’s voice flutters and falls, whether following a spare tom drum as if down a stairwell or darting atop a crisp guitar riff as if on a gust of wind. Deep Time's sound is so beautifully rooted in early punk and post-punk sounds like Delta 5, Marine Girls, and The Slits that it’s as if those groups’ spirits inhabit Deep Time’s own precious clatter. “Coleman” (with rickety keyboards) and “Clouds” (with Moore’s varying vocal tones multitracked and woven into each other in an unusual and memorable melody) are two standouts on this short and sweet outing. Deep Time is thoroughly refreshing and utterly enchanting.