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Six Organs of Admittance, "School of the Flower"
Ben Chasny's debut album for Drag City is the culmination of all of his work as Six Organs of Admittance up to this point. I first saw Chasny perform as Six Organs at 2002's Terrastock festival, and heard his album Dark Noontide soon after. I was struck at that time by his intuitive technique on the acoustic guitar, and the fuzzy blanket of drones that rippled underneath his extended instrumental excursions. Each release since has been stronger than the last, but every one of them seemed oddly transitional, as if Chasny hadn't yet settled on a comfortable repertoire of techniques.
While 2003's Compathia introduced Chasny's vocals and more approachably melodic pop songs, last year's expansion of The Manifestation contained two sidelong experiments in seething psychedelia and avant-folk noise. For School of the Flower, Six Organs synthesize all of these approaches into a varied and rewarding album that contains gentle folk songs, droning instrumentals, extended psychouts and unique combinations thereof. The opener "Eighth Cognition/All You've Left" begins with a noisy improvisation between Chasny's electric organ and Chris Corsano's drums, but abruptly shifts into a sweetly melancholic folk song with hazily distant vocals. Chasny's fingerpicking skills have improved by leaps and bounds since his early albums, and he now sounds as adept at composing and performing complex guitar figures as his obvious influences like John Fahey, Robbie Basho or Sandy Bull. The superlative "Saint Cloud" pits expertly picked acoustic guitar against soft, nonverbal chanting and layers of encroaching noise. "Procession of the Cherry Blossom Spirits" and "Home" are a pair of outstanding tracks that repeat this formula. Here, the stellar studio production lend a tangible presence to Chasny's guitar and the undulating textures of drone. The title track is a 13-minute bohemoth based around a hypnotic, cyclical melody that is played with trancelike repetition as Corsano reappears for an extended improvisation on percussion. The song reaches a crescendo at about the eight-minute mark, as Chasny overlays a mindbending solo on electric fuzz guitar that wouldn't sound out of place coming from space rockers Comets on Fire, of which Chasny is also a member. Six Organs pay tribute to one of its heroes, the criminally unsung Gary Higgins, with a cover of his song "Thicker Than a Smokey," which was the lead track from the singer-songwriter's 1973 Red Hash LP (unfortunately yet to be released on CD). It's a lovely song, and though no one could top Higgins' haunting rendition, Chasny captures the song brilliantly. School of the Flower is truly a great album and shows solid proof of exponential artistic growth.
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