indianandajonas - Outsider Music's Greatest Hits
(Heavy Baby 2014)
Though I often try to listen to music in a mental vacuum of sorts - free of context or distraction - it's hard to ignore the backstory of indianandajonas' first and only release, Outsider Music's Greatest Hits. The CD contains a compilation of the duo's freak-folk improvisations recorded in their first year attending school at The University North Texas. The collection of recordings, nearly five years old, comprises an audio diary of loose, organic compositions, each captured in its own time and location, from the university practice room to an airport in Germany. Though the spontaneous nature of the album's nine tracks makes for a jarringly noisy effort, the two multi-instrumentalists overcome their lo-fi limitations with their knack for texture and attention to detail.
Channeling the vibe of fellow Texans This Will Destroy you and Explosions in the Sky, indianandajonas impress me with their ability to keep lengthy compositions interesting without sacrificing a minimalist aesthetic. "The Waves of Norm in D" and "Texas" both cross the eight-minute mark and make up the core of the album. The former manages to sound ethereal despite its crunchy aesthetic, flecks of piano barely escaping the gravitational pull of throbbing guitar distortion. The piano then takes its turn at the helm on the latter track, slowly evolving in its bassy, Reich-ian drone, a harmonica cycling between two notes. The shorter songs remind me more of Panda Bear's Young Prayer, "Hey Ready" and "Robopatriot" teeming with Dadaist folk energy. OMGH is a fascinatingly organic effort that gets better with each listen, and it's exciting to see it finally get a physical release.
