Dallas Acid (who actually hail from the neighbouring city of Austin), formed for a performance at a planetarium. The band’s combination of stargazing ambiences, dreamy atmospheres and leftfield songwriting is in clear evidence on their albums; the band head into strange musical territory, one where song forms and more abstract compositional styles blur together. Other artists might turn tracks like Zavana and The Spiral Arm into tight ballads, but in the hands of Dallas Acid the tunes dissolve into the ether. The overall effect is not dissimilar to the dreamstate songcraft of Carmen Villain or Julee Cruise.
A strong strain of Jon Hassell’s fourth-world experiments runs through their music this influence becomes particularly prominent on the album’s more instrument-led entries. Circuit Jungle, for instance, is a psychedelic combination of rainforest found sounds, eerie instrumentation and slow, hypnotic groove. Silk Rain is a bit more grandiose but no less potent, recalling 70’s prog and Krautrock with its reverb-drenched keys and snippets of whispered vocal hanging just out of reach.
The Spiral Ambience
“We’ve experimented with remixing our own recordings over the years, but rarely has a piece come into its own, with a unique personality and such a distinct feeling from our originals.”
The Spiral Arm
The sky-gazing wonder of Linda Beecroft’s vocals on the title track draped with almost symphonic banks of synthesisers blinking into infinity, expertly operated by Christian Havins and Michael Gerner, redolent of the deepest end of classic kosmische music.