The Sun Awakens

Unlike so many hippie-come-latelies who were fronting failed electroclash bands just a few years ago and will surely move on to the next trend and cut off their hair next month, Ben Chasny AKA Six Organs of Admittance has been making heavy, awesome, droning psychedelic folk-rock since the mid '90s, for no reason other than that he has to; he's obsessed with this stuff. Tired of saving up and sending away for collectable psychedelic LPs that never seemed to live up their hype, he started making meditative psychedelic folk albums on his own that mix and match elements of avant post-punk, sun-baked folk and visionary hippie folk. In the meantime, he's played in the righteous stoner jam freakout band Comets on Fire and with David Tibet's restrained and dark ambient folk act Current 93. The Sun Awakens is the most layered and realized studio album Chasny's yet made, and the first where his vocal style can be said to add rather than detract. It's thick, occasionally very pretty, and references any number of musicians from John Fahey and Popol Vuh to Ennio Morricone. Speaking of soundtrack composers, someone should get this guy a major film to write the score for, and quick.