STONE GIANTS

West Coast Love Stories NOMARK

SElectronic explorer touches down in distinctly psychedelic territory.

ince making his name on the mid-90s dance scene, Brazilian producer Amon Tobin has dabbled in numerous different areas of experimental electronica, synthrock and ambient noisescaping via several different aliases. But rarely has he sailed closer to progressive and psychedelic waters than he does under his new Stone Giants monicker.

Despite drawing on so many different classic avant-rock influences, it never sounds like a dilettante’s genre experiment. The harmonies enveloping the opening title track owe as much to turn-of-the-90s shoegaze as they do to Californian dreamers suggested by the album title. Elsewhere, the futuristic sonic artifice of Laurie Anderson is echoed on the machinevoiced mantra of Metropole, and the shimmering guitars and ethereal vocal smoke rings of Stinson Beach could come from a great lost Sigur Rós composition. Proggiest of all are the polyrhythmic folk guitar tangles and dizzy synth noodlings of Best Be Sure.

Whatever they draw on, these are gorgeous, endlessly intriguing musical tapestries that reveal intoxicating new charms with each listen.