GHQ “Square Growth Sessions” (Sloow Tapes)

I’m definitely biased, but this is perfect. A gently unfurling matrix of e-bowed elegy, Far East lotus positioning, and low cloud banks of meditative reverb. Muttered mantras echo through steam baths of chiming strings, smooth stones lightly clattering at the bottom of a mossy well. At the end of side A they plug in the Strat and strum a groovier trip, muted tube amp riffing set against a waterfall of shimmering ambient vertigo that slowly cascades more and more chaotically, burying the guitar in crystalline rapids. The Gunn/Nolan/Bassett axis rarely fails to churn out occult chemistry in their mind-meetings, but “Square Growth Sessions” shows the recent splatter paint of genius GHQ releases to be far from dry and done. The B side is the trio at the height of their dark art, summoning a beautifully burning beast of magma drones, crash cymbal fire, subterranean toms, and a melting tower of opalescent wax noise. With a classic Bart/Sloow Tapes watercolor hallucination J-card.