Clear Language - Balmorhea (2017)

I didn’t have a lot to say about the previous Balmorhea record I wrote about. But while that was a pleasant and interesting debut, this is on another level.

The band here has honed their vocabulary so much, adding so much space and shading between each note. There are whole night skies floating by over these tracks, sometimes with the sheer beauty of acoustic piano, and sometimes with the powerful wash of distorted electric guitars.

But the guitars, like everything else, are still placed where they are with a point and a plan. There’s nothing superfluous here; nothing distracts you from the meditative melodies.

This album is a stunner.