Sonnet

Thomas Meluch’s fifth release for Kranky is a major shift from the gauzy, breathtaking, home-recorded pop of his previous albums. The textures are familiar, but here Meluch has made a mostly instrumental record, created entirely from analog tape recordings and guitar effects. Full of warm and rough-edged tones, washed out plucked guitar, and angelic whistling, this might be the most magical thing Meluch has ever created. He writes: “Several of the pieces are recreations of harmony loops that I heard in a series of extraordinarily vivid dreams, and then woke up and recorded.” It’s mesmerizing. All tracks blend into one another, so this is perfect for continuous play. (Or just fade these tracks in and out manually.) Everything’s lovely, but my favorites are 3, 5, 7, 10, 12. Instrumental except for 8. No FCCs.

1. (0:33)—Watery, gleaming intro.
2. (4:36)—Keening, high-pitched loop devoured by a roaring drone.
3. *(5:03)—Piercing, wispy high-pitched tones. Warm low-end that builds gracefully and gradually. So damn beautiful.
4. (0:40)—Guitar feedback, faded guitar picking.
5. *(3:42)—Sedate, warm, shadowy. A tampered speech loop creates a subtle rhythm.
6. (4:06)—Like waves crashing on a beach in blinding brightness.
7. *(1:34)—Tones whirling and scraping across a clear sky.
8. (2:27)—Slow, driving bass line. Vocals! Some of the lyrics are the song titles, and others are really difficult to discern. Like the intro to a huge shoegaze song. Cymbals.
9. (2:56)—A more granulated, consistent drone. Less low end.
10. *(5:36)—Grand, droning, gleaming, serenely pretty.
11. (1:18)—Fractured, rippling tones.
12. *(3:19)—Dark, warm, soft, with a swelling, ghostly vocal-like loop.
13. (7:29)—Chiming tones going down and up and down forever. An ebbing, flowing, sparkling drone underneath.
14. (2:41)—Soothing windblown drone—a long and calm exhaling at the end.