Stag Hare - Sandpaintings (Inner Islands, 2011)

Stag Hare – Sandpaintings
Inner Islands 2011

Stag Hare is a solo psych drone affair by Garrick Biggs hailing originally from Utah. “Holy Person” begins in classic Stag Hare fashion, composed of lush and blissed out electric guitar drones alongside mid tempo, clickety-clack hand percussion and shakers. The percussion and polyrhythms remain consistent, playing a fixed beat throughout the song creating quite a hypnotic and psychedelic effect. Mixed with the bed of layered drone is a meandering, pentatonic guitar melody, also quite gentle, blending very smoothly. After a bit it drops out and wordless vocal chants enter, mimicking the guitar drone. This music is best suited for meditation. Stylistically “Holy Wind” doesn’t stray far from the previous song, and why should it? We got a good recipe going here. The only thing noticeably different is the rhythm, which sounds a bit more energetic and upbeat, though it still maintains its polyrhythmic and steady form. I suppose it’s a got little more of a swaying groove to it.

I get a cleansing and uplifting feeling while listening to this tape, if only temporarily. And I am of the opinion that it begs deep listening, whereas as a lot of other music is about being in your face, aggressive, and more focused on creating a spectacle. The danger with Stag Hare is that it can easily become backgrounded, like wallpaper. Sure, sometimes it’s nice to just have music in the background, to fill the silence. But there are different kinds of music for different kinds of occasions. Stag Hare is contemplative music, and personally, it inspires me most when I’m not doing anything else except listening to it.

cassette for purchase: http://www.innerislands.com/