After two albums of expansive brilliance on the wonderful Ba Da Bing label, Portland, Oregon’s Yume Bitsu come floating our way toting their third mind-altering excursion, the other worldly Auspicious Winds. Blissfully immersed in lilting sheets of sound, Yume Bitsu hover above all other alien orchestras transmitting in today’s space-drone scene by deftly mining expansive soundscapes and effortlessly merging them with harmonic space rock. Auspicious Winds documents their latest journey through sonic time holes and hazy alter-universes.
Adopting a reference to the Japanese High Tea ceremonial act for their album name, Yume Bitsu (translated as “Dream Beats” from Japanese) understands the cleansing spiritual aspects of that centuries-old ritual, invoking its meaning via their own travels through inner space. Auspicious Winds drifts peacefully as a perfect transcendent accompaniment to such traditions. Four extended epic compositions and one yearning psyche-pop jewel (“Sharp, Twisted”) map out introspective territories, cascading through the subtle nuances of mind, body and soul. Materializing into human form through the entities of Adam (guitar/vocals), Franz (guitar), Alex (synthesizers/keyboards) and Jason (drums; also leader of the amazing popsters Wolf Colonel), Yume Bitsu’s swirling sound is a slow unfurling of their elements; floating guitars, flooded synth washes, sparse drum colorings, emotive vocal trajectories. Patiently revealed in alternate atmospheric steps are climactic peaks and periods of dramatic restraint, often at their most intense moments, only to fall back delicately into a pillowed heap, spent, depleted. Imagine the depth and complex tension of Mogwai, the foggy shimmer of Windy & Carl’s delicate ebb-and-flow stratospheres, and the soundtrack themes of Roy Montgomery. Take it and saturate the textures of Isn’t Anything-era My Bloody Valentine and you’ve got a reference point you can drift away in. But it’s the advanced soundsmith skills which mesh expansive ambient horizons with intermittent vocal harmonies and excellent songcraft that elevates Yume Bitsu’s high above their peers.
Yume Bitsu plays dreamy bedroom music. You’ll never want to get out of bed again.
supported by 5 fans who also own “Auspicious Winds (KLP121)”
Deep, interesting, strong and emotional. Just a great work. Liz Harris will always have something strong, special and surprising in the best artistic way. risovic
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