Shelter from the Ash

Ben Chasny (who also plays guitar with Comets on Fire) has been making records as Six Organs of Admittance since 1998, sprouting from the Northern California woods with all the organic grace and psychotropic promise of a magic mushroom. This, his ninth studio recording and third for Drag City, is a stunning and exquisite work of psychedelic folk, with countless nods to the real thing of the 1960s (strains of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain," Quicksilver Messenger Service and even Jefferson Airplane, to name a few, come through the mix). Chasny’s excellent, intricate guitar work is reminiscent of John Fahey and Bert Jansch, and his use of sonic texturing and ambient noise is smart and masterful. Opening track “Alone With the Alone” is a brewing storm, swirls of droning sound with beautifully finger-picked acoustic guitar climaxing in a gorgeous crescendo. Elisa Ambroglio’s ethereal vocals accompany Chasny on melancholy tracks like “Strangled Road,” and the slow building, howling “Coming to Get You” is both beautiful and terrifying.  Together, the eight-minute-plus “Final Wing” and the title track feel like the heart of the beast, with hypnotic loops of acoustic guitar circling under gale-force electric guitars heavy with distortion and effects.  Shelter needs to be listened to and admired as a whole piece, as each track seems inextricably linked to the next; it may well be considered a minor masterpiece.