Six Organs of Admittance
Dark Noontide
[Holy Mountain; 2002]
Rating: 8.2
The best psychedelic music doesn't require the aid of pharmaceuticals.
The 13th Floor Elevators' first album, Love's Forever Changes, Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and other such mind-expanding classics can get the job done on their own. They don't need much outside help in the form of drugs, or anything else for that matter. The way I see it, if an album needs drugs to make it enjoyable or emotionally moving, then-- by definition-- it's lacking something. I don't think I'm being prudish when I say, at its best, psychedelic music should be a more-than-adequate substitute for drugs. If psychedelic music is simply music to take drugs to, then the latest Creed album is the most psychedelic album ever: it makes me want to take drugs-- all of them, as quickly as possible.
While nowhere near as accomplished as the above mentioned albums (and not really sounding much like them, either), this second LP from a Northern Californian tree-sitting, psychedelic ewok-cum-John-Fahey-disciple named Ben Chasny and his (essentially) one man acoustic drone/raga outfit Six Organs of Admittance certainly needs no lysergic crutch, despite its outward trappings which might suggest otherwise.
Dark Noontide is basically a tribal-psych album with acoustic guitar serving as the campfire around which flutes, recorders, tablas, bells, chimes, and sundry other instruments dance. It's not a playful, frolicking dance; it has a somber and contemplative tone, almost funereal at times. Three out of the eight songs also feature Chasny's singing, which is somewhat hard to pin down. Sometimes it sounds like a less operatic Tim Buckley (maybe hard to imagine), a gravel-voiced Roger McGuinn, or maybe Skip Spence. Still, it's nicely distinctive and perfectly matched to the musical accompaniment.
The album opens with the solemn blues of "Spirits Abandoned," with Chasny singing the refrain, "I know what you've done/ What you've become," with an almost zen-like detachment, as if the subject of the song is just too overwhelming to be dealt with head-on. "This Hand" mixes pseudo-religious lyrics with the best use of a buzzing guitar string since Neil Young's "Ambulance Blues," while the album ends with a comparatively rockish tune called "A Thousand Birds." Propelled by a driving acoustic guitar riff, the song explodes into a distorted, spastic electric guitar freakout, ending the album in unexpected fashion, given the loose, meditative feel of what preceded it.
Between these more "song-oriented" pieces, there are a couple of short solo acoustic numbers that many Fahey fans would appreciate, along with some other noise/drone improv pieces similar to the ones Tower Recordings have dedicated themselves to releasing. On their own, these tracks aren't anything spectacular. But as part of Dark Noontide's expansive whole, they have the ability to transport you to another world like few modern-day psychedelic recordings can. A kaleidoscopic, hallucinatory experience, all without the aid of drugs. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
-Jason Nickey, March 8th, 2002
Review by Jason Nickey
Six Organs of Admittance took a huge step forward with Dark Noontide -- the second full-length from the essentially one-man acoustic project -- without completely abandoning the sound of its predecessor. While still operating within a tradition that includes such blues/raga guitarists as John Fahey and Sandy Bull, Dark Noontide brings vocals to a more prominent position on songs like "Spirits Abandoned" and "This Hand." Connecting these more song-oriented outings are perfectly paced drones and ambient field recordings that are enjoyable on their own merits. Working within a very limited framework -- essentially solo guitar and four-track manipulations -- Six Organs is able to explore a surprising variety of moods and textures on Dark Noontide.
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