Written by: Mike Dimitriou
In the midsummer’s heat wave, Seattle’s space rock experimentalist Damian Kastbauer (a.k.a. Lost Chocolate Lab) is streaming the single “Squall” ahead of his forthcoming 10-track LP Lost Landscapes, which is out August 31.
The album is an aural study on noise-guitar crafts, shoegaze riffing and space rock fuzzy tripping. Kastbauer is a skilled sonic architect and “Squall” is a tornado of harmonies with pedal harmonics and gracious riffing. If I were tripping in the desert in Cairo’s pyramids I would love to have this peculiar tune with me. But since I’m in an urban site I can only imagine the dusty and melting solar phenomena this track evokes.
The song and actually the whole record is Kastbauer’s ultimate solo project–a man with his guitar and pedals, creating a multipolar psychedelic noise rock shoegaze library, and pulling from a dictionary of space rock chords and melodies. Kastbauer is like a deft magician who implies their presence, sometimes gently, sometimes openly. His pot is filled with sonic winds, astral storms, and guitars for the gazers and psychedelics.
Enthralling and engaging work!
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