Dragontime’s self-titled tape originally came out as a cd-r
in 2012. This reissue was done by California label Inner Islands. Upon first
inspection the j-card looks like what would happen if Peter Max went through a
Lisa Frank/My Little Pony phase. Tip of the hat to artist Alexis Amann for
pulling that off. The art goes very well with the synth-driven new age/psychedelic/folktronica
inspired music that I heard. The aforementioned synthesizer is accompanied by
bass, guitar, and percussion. However, the highlight is Kephera Moon’s vocals.
Her soft, bilingual vocals holds its own over the instrumentation in both English
and Spanish.
Some songs, like the opening track “Future Past” drag on a
little bit too long in my opinion. The sweet spot for Dragontime seems to be
around 2.5-4 minutes. For instance the song “Ride That Train”, my favorite of
the tape, clocks in at 3:20 and isn’t weighed down by filler. All in all though
I can see why the band wanted to reissue the album. This style of music is
getting back in fashion again and I am sure new ears who may have missed it in
2012 will be eager to listen to it.
Stream + Buy here: https://innerislands.bandcamp.com/album/dragontime
--Roy Blumenfeld