Caustics

***CAUSTICS is YASI PERERA (BREEZY DAYS BAND, PARK DETAILS) on voice/electronics, JOSIAH WOLF (WHY?) on drums/percussion, DEVIN HOFF (JULIA HOLTER, GOOD FOR COWS) on acoustic and electric basses and JOHN DIETERICH (DEERHOOF, GORGE TRIO) on guitars/voice/electronics. This unlikely assemblage of personalities (some of which had never met before the first session) was created as a vehicle for exploring a spontaneously and collectively invented ritual music, a conduit for the casting of spells. Through the multiple recording sessions represented on Touch, the group turned the lights out and agreed to try to forget what music was in service to this simple idea. Sounds bleed into each other, meeting in some unrecognizable space. Voices float in and out, emotive yet never quite intelligible. Gestures are limited in breadth but achieve an otherworldly power in their simplicity. The result is a claustrophobic miasma of disjointed electronics, pounded rhythms and trance-inducing swirls, honed razor sharp in its focus. There is no pretense to preconceived ideas of musical sophistication or aspirations to virtuosity. This, rather, is a group of fellow travelers rubbing stones together in order to generate a new kind of heat.