Album Reviews

Dan Padley

Bloom

DANPADLEY.BANDCAMP.COM

On a first listen, I struggled to find my way into the musical world of Dan Padley’s Bloom. The record by the Iowa City guitarist and composer is mysterious, almost certainly by design. But it is by way of this sense of mystery and wonder, it seems to me, that the record slowly (perhaps over multiple listenings) and gently acquires and holds your attention.

Even the title of Bloom’s opening track, “What is Why?,” seems intended to signal a sort of complexity or to put the listener a bit off balance. That belies the simplicity of the record’s title, of course, which may mean looking for meaning in titles is an unproductive pursuit in this case. Consider, for example, that one track is entitled “Thursday” and a later number is “Monday,” and I would be hard pressed to explain how—or if—they are connected.

That said, the title track—the sixth of 10 pieces—is lovely, and its sweeping, cinematic strings and piano call to mind the sort of rebirth or emergence the word “bloom” implies. The following track, “Fireflies,” hints at its namesakes with a shimmering set of guitar notes that provide an auditory representation of the pattern-less but somehow connected flashes one might spot over a field in the summer.

I had hoped to pen this review without resorting to the word “atmospheric,” but the fact is each track on Bloom seems to create and exist within its own musical atmosphere. A figure or sound might recur throughout a song—oftentimes these sounds have been manipulated in one way or another—in a hypnotic manner. A musical ornament might be located in a specific, subtle spot in the mix—easy to miss and yet an essential part of the whole. Birdsong might accompany the instruments (or perhaps it is the other way around) or a collection of human voices might craft a meditative musical space.

Shining Realm

Enter the Shining Realm

THESHININGREALM.BANDCAMP.COM

“Ascension,” the opening track on Shining Realm’s new release, starts with a long, low, layered drone that hits like a cicada symphony warming up on a hot summer night. When you close your eyes, you can IT’S THE MUSIC THAT WE see the exact MIGHT HAVE SEEn OUT OF THE angle of the BEATLES IF GEORGE HARRISOn beam of light that you’re beHAD KICKED LEnnOn AnD ing carried on, MCCARTnEY’S EGOS TO THE CURB and each new AnD TAKEn OVER. sound that’s added ratchets up the tension and excitement and draws you

The record is quiet and em- closer to the parting in the clouds. ploys its quietness to deepen the It’s nearly five minutes of rise, a sense of mystery while drawing slow trip to the top of the first hill the listener into its collection of of a roller coaster—but the drop atmospheres. “Listen to this,” into the loping guitar that kicks the music almost whispers. And off track two, “Enter the Shining then it offers something lovely Realm,” is an easy drift, rather than or strange—or, frequently, both. a stomach-lurch. You’re not going

At first, I thought perhaps down, you’re disconnecting from this album would serve well as the tracks and taking off tangenthe kind of music one puts on in tially. the background in the hope that Enter the Shining Realm is a deit will help focus the mind on lightful slice of psychedelia, with another task. But in fact, Bloom roots in the 13th Floor Elevators wants your attention. And it and kin to Iowa contemporaries rewards that attention with sur- Land of Blood and Sunshine. It’s prises, delights and even unre- the music that we might have solved mysteries. Listen closely. seen out of the Beatles if George Discover something new. Then Harrison had kicked Lennon and listen closely again. McCartney’s egos to the curb and —Rob Cline taken over. But as much as I love it (and I do; it sounds like reawakening), it doesn’t need to appeal to my tastes to be fantastic. The album is stellar work, from top to bottom, the sort that makes you want to run out and buy the most expensive headphones you can to ensure you’re not missing anything.

The vocal and instrumental layering create not a wall but a dense succession of curtains of sound that part as you reach them, like an invitation. Track five, “Jodorowsky’s Dune,” is a maze that somehow traps you in its tight 2:37; it follows the arch and fantastical “Lay Down Thy Sword,” which starts with startling percussion and offers the lyric, “... there She stood / The Weaver of the Dawn / She wore a crown of thirteen stars orbiting Her prism-colored hair.” Yeah, that’s the stuff you expect to hear while cruising through the mystic aether. This record hits every tone right on, while being sincere enough—and skillful enough—to escape being hackneyed.

When “Jodorowsky’s Dune” fades into “A Pilot of Mortality,” the harmonies take center stage, continuing on into “Bleed a Prayer from the Stone.” The production is gorgeous, and the vocals twin and separate, dancing around one another. The heavy orchestration of the earlier tracks has been simplified to offer a backdrop to the almost choral creations happening here.

On track nine, the album closer, “Amida,” Shining Realm lowers us slowly back down to earth with a more traditional rocker, with more obvious kit drums, more accessible lyrics and more familiar guitar work. This is the radio track, if there is one, with just a hint of the Eastern flavor that the rest of the album is steeped in. It’s a gentle letting go, a thank you; you can actually imagine listening to something else after.

You won’t want to, though. Once you’ve finished this ride, you’ll want to hop right back on. —Genevieve Trainor