Jon Porras — Black Mesa

The Thrill Jockey label is best known for nearly two decades of “post-rock” releases, usually contemplative and/or instrumental genre fusion experiments wherein bands that would otherwise bash out punk rock instead explore their muso sides to come up with any number of variations on rock-jazz-country-electronica.

Jon Porras, of recent Thrill Jockey signing Barn Owl, is no exception to this formula, though his fusion is attempting to marry serpentine prog guitar with West Coast Americana country-rock, while striking upon some sort of soul-searching, desert-wandering transcendental meditative quality buoyed by a slight Native American mythology. [Supposedly “Black Mesa” is akin to David Lynch’s “Black Lodge,” only in the Southwest rather than Washington State.]

He is only partially successful. Moderately drenched in reverb, the pieces do achieve an effective drone and the quality of the playing is memorable and consistent, if not remarkable. But the pieces—which were all similarly built from guitar demos upon which other layers were placed but not overtly produced—lack somewhat in variation and gravitas.

For the most part, these pieces meander right past without reaching the sweat lodge fever dream they wish to achieve. Music this deliberately contemplative needs to walk an artful balance of tension and space (see Mogwai’s pre-Rock Action albums, to which this record practices similar dynamics), while any unplanned hesitation in the arrangement can threaten to derail the record completely. There are a couple of shaky moments like this, even as early as the first track “Into Midnight,” though fortunately in this example the loss of momentum proves duplicitous, as it allows the song to come roaring back fiercely a minute or so later.

The beautifully named “Candlelight Mirage” also loses steam as the song progresses, and unfortunately peters out. But by the time a lone drum rhythm pops up about five minutes into “Into the Black Mesa,” Porras is obviously onto something. A fuzzy harmony guitar carries the album closing “Beyond the Veil” and ends the note on a triumphant hallucinatory high, perhaps a good jumping off point for Porras’ next record.