Eternal Tapestry - A World Out of time

by Andrew Carver

published: 12 / 1 / 2013

Label: Thrill Jockey
Format: CD

Satisfying space rock on latest album from West Coast psychedelic outfit Eternal Tapestry, which takes many of its song titles from science-fiction stories and novels

Review

From just the titles alone on their newest disc, you know where West Coast space rockers Eternal Tapestry plan to go tripping: The space! Through time! Through the local library’s fantasy section! (For those not keen on literary allusion, a number of the song titles are taken from sci-fi stories and novels.) That is not, however, the only stop in the eight-song odyssey of ‘A World Out of Time’. Kicking off with the long, distorted flutter of an e-bowed, distorted guitar tone, on ‘When I was in Your Mind’, the band jumps into some roughshod guitar clunking strung between the axis of Can’s krautrock circa ‘Monster Movies’, West African semitones and San Francisco’s Quicksilver Messenger Service. Clocking in at over twelve minutes, it segues almost imperceptibly into the twinkling synths and acoustic strums of ‘Planetoid 127’ (Which actually clocks in at one minute and 26 seconds - it takes its name from Edgar Wallace’s short story of alien contact). As its echoes die away, The Bardo Pond-esque ‘Alone Against Tomorrow’ (also the title of Harlan Ellison’s 1971 short story collection) kicks in with much wah-wah and more semitonal shifts, sounding very much like a jammy extension of the first track - as does the ‘The Weird Stone’ (title owing, one presumes, to Alan Garner’s 1960 fantasy novel) which continues in the same vein, though it does enjoy some serious guitar-soloing through its middle section and a shimmering exit to set it apart. The brief ‘Apocalypse Troll’ (after David Weber’s space-time war novel of 1999) favours some Sabbath-style, highly distorted plod, then comes to a sudden end. ‘When Gravity Fails’ starts off on a different tack with the sound of rain, percussion, then a slow build of fast tempo drumming and guitar weedling. ‘The Currents of Space’ slows things down, returning the listener to the groovier sounds of the album’s first half. ‘Sand into Rain’ caps things with an acoustic hippy vibe, with some horn tooting reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s ‘Atom Heart Mother’. If you like your space rock jammy, ‘A World Out Of Time’ will satisfy.

Track Listing:-

1 When I Was In Your Mind
2 Planetoid 127
3 Alone Against Tomorrow
4 The Weird Stone
5 Apocalypse Troll
6 When Gravity Fails
7 The Currents Of Space
8 Sand Into Rain