Chris Weisman’s music has a peculiarly timeless quality to it, but not necessarily in the traditional notions of the term. Instead, Weisman’s music seems “unstuck in time” due to the filtering of various pop signifiers through the consistently austere lo-fi arrangements and complex harmonic language of its creator. Each one of Weisman’s releases bears these musical qualities but remains distinguishable by pushing a new element to the fore with every release. For instance, Transparency focuses more on Elliott Smith-style balladry and minimalist experiments; Living With Poison is a sprawling dissonant psych-pop masterpiece; and Monet in the 90s has an improbable Ween-meets-Gastr del Sol vibe to it. All of this is a testament to Weisman’s talent at creating an endless stream of sonic worlds using little more than a 4-track and his guitar/vocals, with only the occasional additions of drums, keyboards, or recorder. These tools, coupled with the slight realigning of influences of each record, make for a catalog that could almost exist in any era while not adhering to any readily apparent temporal identification.
Weisman’s forthcoming Chaos Isn’t Single most certainly carries on the distinctly “timeless” tradition set forth by his earlier work, but it finds the songwriter exploring some previously unheard musical sounds and branching out into more experimental territory that hasn’t been heard much since his work on The Maya Properties. “Nothing More But You” is a particularly lovely number that marries Weisman’s typically dense syntax to equally dissonant and harmonious guitar chords, but it quickly steps into new territory by adding Twin Peaks-esque synths and harmonies to the strange and poignant lyrics. The amount of atmosphere that Weisman manages to create with this minimum of tools is truly stunning and reaffirms his position as one of the most prolific and inventive lo-fi pop songwriters working today.
Chaos Isn’t Single is out June 16 via Hidden Temple Tapes.
• Hidden Temple Tapes: http://www.hiddentempletapes.storenvy.com
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