bugskull: collapsed view

Sean Byrne's Bugskull project returned in 2009 after a long hiatus with the Digitalis-released Communication. A few years later they released the acoustic curveball, Strange Mountain, on legendary Inland Empire label, Shrimper. Digitalis is very happy that the proper follow-up to Communication has landed on the Digitalis shores again. Collapsed View is a whimsical summer excursion through jaded forests and crystalline tides. On the plucked acoustic opener, "Heaven/California," you're gently dropped into Byrne's hazy lair. The repetitive main dirge moves like molasses until you're appropriately comatose. It's a dizzying beginning that settles nicely into the bass crunch of "Olde Growth." Forward movement in the form of a canned ramshackle beat underlines the drawn-out leads that appear to float in a puff of smoke. "Icarus Rising" steals the show with its jet propulsion bass line and psych-infused guitar leads. It's an intoxicating combination that gets better with repeated listens. Byrne breaks out all the stops on Collapsed View, mutating gamelan-esque electronics into an ocean-side romp on "Druids." Hypnotic guitar swells wrap around the piece, elevating it onto a different plane. It begins the second side, which, compared to the A-side, is a meditative ambient affair. Saxophone lamentations punctuate the title-track, drawing a circle around a star-filled night in the middle of nowhere.