Under the Paw Paw moniker, multi-instrumentalist Eston Lathrap has issued a catalog of limited edition physical objects and digital releases that fuse tones and structural strategies from the ambient tradition with extended percussion performance. As a former member of Denver psych ensemble Woodsman, Lathrop’s steady pulse provided a foundation for the group’s interstellar rock exploration, as documented on full-length LPs like Collages and Rare Forms. Outside of the collaborative setting, Lathrop populates his spacious mixes with enough layers of glistening electronic drone, lightly effected guitar, and mantra-like drum rhythms to sketch out an entire band’s-worth of overlaid solo performance. His dense arrangements blend these elements together at a level of production clarity such that every thumping tabla beat and synth arpeggio occupies its own quadrant of the stereo spread, interlocking in gentle arcs and swaths of shared activity that propel his sessions through the haze.
Paw Paw’s forthcoming Full Earth Greeting arrives May 26 via Fire Talk records in 10” lathe cut vinyl and cassette editions. Stream the album in full below, and let Lathrap guide you down his topographical trails of sound. Sessions form out of the ether layer by layer, bleeding across track divisions to form an ambient continuum flecked with surges of rhythmic animation and lulls of swirling drone texture. Opener “Foreverrr” drapes waves of minimal synth bliss over a loping drum pattern performed on southeast asian percussion. “Close Horizons Shimmer” bubbles with hard-panned guitar overdubs as low end swells creep through the bottom of the mix. The chiming gamelan-like synth patterns of “Endlessly Anemone” slide into the nature field recordings of “Effigy,” which drifts through more than 10 minutes of humming narcosis. “Dream Result” closes the album with some of Lathrop’s most concentrated riffing, casting off in crisp strums fused together from multiple guitar takes. Taken as a whole, Full Earth Greeting finds Paw Paw channeling his production sensibilities and structural tactics into miniature compositions both subtly varied in execution and unified in atmosphere.
• Paw Paw: https://pawpaw.bandcamp.com
• Fire Talk: http://firetalkrecs.com
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