Lichens / Psychic Nature Of Being, The
Album: Psychic Nature Of Being, The   Collection:General
Artist:Lichens   Added:Feb 2006
Label:Kranky  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2006-02-12 Pull Date: 2006-04-16 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Apr 2 Mar 5 Feb 26 Feb 19
Airplays: 1 1 2 2

Recent Airplay
1. Apr 06, 2010: Gumdrop Freight Train: The CABOOSE
You Are Excrement, You Can Turn Yourself Into Gold
4. Mar 02, 2006: Baptism of Solitude
Kirlian Auras
2. Feb 20, 2009: orangeasm
Shoreline Scoring
5. Feb 24, 2006: college radio!
Kirlian Auras
3. Mar 27, 2006: knifefishhappyhour
You Are Excrement, You Can Turn Yourself Into Gold
6. Feb 22, 2006: Brownian Motion
Kirlian Auras

Album Review
Ben Wolfson
Reviewed 2006-02-09
Psychy drones produced by layering low vocals in loops with higher vocals and spare acoustic guitar playing providing melodic ornamentation. Rob Lowe is also a member of 90 Day Men. In case anyone has heard his live performances I should say that the CD is a lot less dynamic and intense than they are (and, IMO, not as engrossing, but it's still quite good). The guitar playing is never flashy, and frequently resembles the Takoma school or Six Organs of Admittance. All tracks good, and there are only three, but I like the first part of 3 the most. All tracks begin quietly.

1: Starts off quite low, with higher vocals coming in with a little bit of distortion after a few minutes. Guitar enters later playing very restrained repeated patterns.
2: Starts off higher. There are some word-like vocalisations but nothing comprehensible. Guitar doesn't enter until quite late.
3: Track is in two parts, first ending with a long sine-like tone -10:15).
First part: Guitar playing here resembles Fahey or Peter Lang at their most stately (which is to say, no pyrotechnics or anything). Has a long lead-in. It's almost hard to credit the claim that the backdrop for this track is just vocals---it's very gentle with a high bit that might come from whistling.
Second part, begins -9:45: Low, solemn tone, with very spare guitar notes ringing out occasionally. This part is very slow moving until the guitar, sounding distant, picks up with what sound like bells about halfway through (that is, three-quarters through the track as a whole).

Track Listing
1. Kirlian Auras   2. Shoreline Scoring
  3. You Are Excrement, You Can Turn Yourself Into Gold