Stand Before Me - Oh My Soul

Beginning with shimmering, echoed textures and a similarly big and splashy-sounding drum part, Stand Up Before Me, Oh My Soul! almost immediately sounds like an extension of everything from space rock to post-rock to whatever can be called serenely exploratory. Fabio Orsi's ear for rock instrumentation is clearly less based in the standard approach than in the creation of textures, as can be heard in the stuttering loops of "Folks! My Soul Stands Up Before You!," further overlaid with violin and moody solo guitar shimmer. It's also probably appropriate that one of the most extreme, stoner-rock-as-polished-slab compositions is called "My Awesome Drugs Propaganda." The concluding loop and rumble of "Soon, I'll Be at Home" isn't far off in impact, winding down its rhythmic pulse only after a roiling shudder of ten minutes. The queasy solo on "Full Metal Flat" sounds like one of the Cure's more unsettled moments, though in a way the whole arrangement could be that minus Robert Smith's unmistakable vocals. The blasting howl of "Papa, Show Me Your Blues LPs" settles into a flanged beat loop that's like some flowing motorik progression in a wind tunnel, while the looped sighs and drones below trebly feedback and fuzz on "Please Could You Hide That Ghost Noise?" are another lovely highlight.