The Stumps (myspace) latest CD The Black Wood (Last Visible Dog link) has picked up a couple more good reviews at AnimalPsi and Foxy Digitalis.

Despite the decidedly self-deprecating title (reified through the arboreal sub-title and booklet art), the work of The Stumps is rather cerebral, quite elevated psychedelia with no overt hints of humor [...] all untitled pieces populating a spectrum from pure guitar-derived drone pieces to scuzzy, austere garage-psych in classic NZ style. Tracks are a technicality, for the most part, as the dark shimmer of the opening drone transitions into a krautrock free-fall in the final third of the second, picking up to Faustian thrust in the third. [...] The ambient conversation and wayward percussion of track four contradict nicely the deep lapses of dark ambience found, for example, on the 12 minute track which follows, a subterrestrial bisection where guitars writhe and glisten in the rich soil of electronic ether. A wrenched, white-jazz bombast cuts the effect briefly, then again in earnest as the band returns gear to the guitars and kit travails of before; squealing electronics are used throughout, stabbing an additional plane of sharp static to the mix. [...] Recommended.

-- AnimalPsi (read the full review)

Upon entering into “The Black Wood” one will initially find navigation hard to manage, as sounds appear from long distances, erupt and dissipate back into the dark abyss from which they sprang. Imagine echoing reverberations bouncing off the burnt out husks of trees tease the mind conjures images of what may or may not be laying in wait for you… then suddenly the dark feelings dissipate as a gentle rain begins to fall. But as the last rays of light leave and complete darkness takes over, the sounds shift their tone, implicating a rising danger moving closer towards you. Finally, when the drumming begins you know you must find your way out of this place … and when your pace quickens, everything erupts into a head-on chase, accompanied by heavy drum and bass interplay through which a reverb-drenched guitar weaves chaos in and out of the mix..

Essentially the first three tracks of this recording would make quite a memorable soundtrack to some form of horror film or ghost tale. In many ways, this suite offers similar feelings that arise while listening to Tetsuya Ohashi’s soundtrack to Kaneto Shindo’s “Onibaba.” The sense of juxtaposition of very spatially oriented arrangements with very structured interludes, presents a high level of tension that manages to find its way to a wonderful and very satisfying resolution with the close of the third movement. [...] 8/10

-- Cory Card, Foxy Digitalis (read the full review)

Thank you to our reviewers, we're glad you like the record.

PS. Though Cory Card and I both write for Foxy Digitalis, he is not under any compulsion to write nice things about my band.

Labels: stumps