Release Date: 2011-04-06
Rated: NONE
Genre: Recording
Portland, Oregon’s Eternal Tapestry isn’t easily slotted. There’s a mystical, hypnotic bent, but it’s not quite stoner rock; there’s an anti-metronomic ooze to their pacing, but it’s not neo-Krautrock by any stretch of the imagination; a proto-metal heaviness is implied, but it’s not like they’re Dead Meadow. Take a coring at any point on Beyond the 4th Door and everything’s going on: guitarists Nick Bindeman and Dewey Mahood trading and layering licks like thermals, Ryan Carlile’s synth creep and tenor-sax and Krag Likins’ bass deepening chasms, Jed Binderman’s drums plod at first but keep everything on an even keel. They’re a more patient, more refined outfit than they were pre-Thrill Jockey, building beguiling mysteries by degree. “Cosmic Manhunt” tiptoes up a madrigal spiral staircase into a portal of fuzz, “Reflections In A Mirage” draws fractured, spaced-out jazz beyond the limits of patience, and “Ancient Echoes” entrances with clusters of tonal tickles, twinkles, and effects-mashed murmurs. Once you’ve succumbed, you’ll wonder how you got by without them.
