Neilson, Alexander & Richard Youngs / Partick Raindance

Vhf

Follow-up to 2003’s Ourselves by this Glasgow duo extends the already broad range of sound heard on that stunner into new worlds. These two prolific players are at the top of their game, pairing some immediately identifiable elements — Alex Neilson’s superb jazz-influenced drumming, Richard Youngs unmistakable voice — with a thick layer of truly psychedelic clamor. The brief “Chamber” rips out a noise like a ’60s Sun Ra / Pat Patrick duo, segueing into the also Ra-ish masterpiece “Music of the Lost Sun.” The point in “Lost Sun” where Young’s voice and guitar emerge from the polyglot sound for a beautiful melodic interlude is just too much. The second half of the record has a less layered feel, beginning with the a capella “Noatak Beacon,” then moving into more aggro territory where Neilson’s bowed cymbals taking on Youngs’s guitar on “Mountain.” The short cut-up “Big Aeroplanes” ends the record on a final note of mystery.

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