Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Review: PEAKING LIGHTS "IMAGINARY FALCONS" LP/cassette (Night People/Not Not Fun 2009)


Spring Green, WI's Peaking Lights is Aaron Coyes (Faceplant, Rahdunes) and Indra Dunis (Numbers, Rahdunes).  Released this spring Imaginary Falcons (Night People/NNF) works as a whole piece, functioning not just as a series of songs (which many of them stand extremely strong on their own) but as a portrait of a time in the lives of the artists and their friends.  Recorded after their relocation to Spring Green, WI from San Francisco, and during their first year of marriage, the record encapsulates a year in love and the extraordinary blessing of moving away from city lights to a place where they have a little more room to stretch their legs.  The swelling guitar lines and analog synth tones that Aaron Coyes weaves from hand crafted machines mingle effortlessly with Indra's hushed melodies and casio tones.  The songs speak to feelings of isolation, deep connections, and distant messages (both astral and earth-bound).  
Much has been written recently about the duo's dedication to analog and lo-fi processes and aesthetics.  Some people saying things like "despite the lo-fi recordings" or "emerging from the fourteenth tape dub" imply these as shortcomings, but it is within these aesthetics that Peaking Lights are able to conjure the magic within their sound.  Every tone, each fuzz, a deliberate brush stroke on the aural landscape.  
Within this cohesive recording there are a few stand outs that remind me of the best times I had this summer.  Sitting in the sand with my friends beside the Wisconsin River, all kinds of smoke and light, blaring select tracks from Falcons mixed in with all our old favorites out of a broken boom box.  The perfect scenario for tunes that make you wish you lived on that river, just as Coyes and Dunis do.



Peaking Lights- Owls Barning
-one of my favorites from the record.  sit outside while it is still warm out under your favorite tree and soak this one up.  (thanks to Raven Sings the Blues for hosting)
 

 Each season has a magick all its own.  We all feel it, season to season, smell to smell, sound to sound; we create our own little vision that we will keep with us for our whole lives.  Every once and a while, an artist can assist these seasons and the fabric by which we craft our memories.  Peaking Lights have this magick and with Imaginary Falcons they have draped whoever hears it in a soft light and a loving tone.  
So go and pick this up.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.  You can get the LP direct from Shawn Reed at Night People (Reed also did the amazing cover art) or the cassette from Not Not Fun.  This recording can be your guide through the rest of indian summer.  Stay tuned for new jammerz from these two that they debuted on their recent east coast tour.  heavy dubby lovey dovey.



SIDE NOTE:
check out aaron and indra's rad store The Good Style Shop on the corner of Hancock and East Washington in Madison, WI.  tons of rad clothes, accessories, AND TONS OF TAPES AND RECORDS AND HECKA IN STORES.  the best shows in madison happen here and the best people in madison make it happen.  

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