The Current Group"Plateau Meridians" LP Review

The Current Group "Plateau Meridians" LP 

The Current Group's 2009 record “Plateau Meridians” has to be one of the most

abstract & artistically original pieces I've recently stumbled upon. The album's downloadable off the bands label Close / Far, which is home to all kinds of otherinteresting records and bands, but I recommend ripping this one personally. The record begins with the track “For All Time” which emits a meditative & ceremonial vibe. The song drones on with down tuned guitars that create a liquid presence, backed by whispers & the echoes of chants. On “Silver Equine Heart” the ambiance is a bit different. The track slowly builds with the sound of dark jazzy trumpets, percussions that have the aura of some monastic eastern practice, & surreal poetics that are gently sung that seem to emit from a place of darkness & light.So as the poem ends the songcomes to an abrupt stop only to fall back on the jazz like sounds that bring to mind a darker Coltrane type tune.With “Thine Eyes” that meditative aura is captured once more putting the listener in a trance. The tribal percussions throughout the song are as mesmerizing as the sounds of ticking clocks & raindrops that trickle like shifting rattlesnakes. On “December 21, 2006 (For All Longing)” a very haunting aura was realized. The percussion’s sound, like a room taken over by a playful poltergeist as you imagine drawers opening by themselves and doors opening and shutting quite frantically. The voice over it sounds either like a lonesome specter calling out or the ravings of a madman in an asylum, repetitively shouting “Don't forget to come back!” On “Meridians” the listener feels themselves becoming mentally disembodied in the  depths of space as they float along an invisible current of dreams. With “Nek Chand” you fall back into that strange world of percussions that sound like chains and poetics that seem to vocalize from ten different mouths. While in the next track “On The Salem Plateau”the electronic effects seem to hover over the listener's head as the guitars create an atmospheric vibe felt throughout the song. Another one of the more bizarre tracks on the record is “Boxcars (Story Version)”, which starts with what sounds like an anxious mind thinking in silence as eerie synth effects begin to envelop it. The breathing grows heavier as the lyrics twist in strange directions and the sounds follow suit all climaxing into a paranoid piece of perfection. On “Thine Eyes II” that schizophrenic voice returns disturbed as ever backed by percussion’s ticking like the hands of a clock and melodious guitar rhythms. The final track on this masterpiece is“Under The Dogwood” which flows with cascading sound effects of shifting sheets as you twist and turn in your bed in a state of slumber. While all the while holding that peaceful tranquility felt in a summertime dream.