Electric Octopus – Smokyhead (2017)

Electric Octopus are back with a bright bit of intoxication, one that sounds very clear crisp and centered, riding on a lazy meandering current of spacious unconcern … not so much going through the motions, simply emotionally easy, with a heartfelt sense of hushed tender afterglow satisfaction.

These guys have a way of not only reaching into the center of themselves, but into the center of each other, drawing out breathy notes and chords that seem to linger just long enough, before blending into the next. Smokehead is a marvelous insightful title for this outing, as this time around the music actually does come across as hazy blue smoke rising from a half forgotten cigarette, floating gently through the air. With this probably being the most effortless elemental atmospheric attitude to come from this trio, it’s an album that I’d certainly been hoping for, as the music found here is exactly where my head tends to linger most of the time.

If anything, Smokehead is a snapshot in three songs, taken through the window of train spiriting across a dreamy landscape washed by the setting sun, where passengers have both the luxury and inclination to consider all … or nothing at all, from a comfortable seat with a perfect vantage point.

– Jenell Kesler