Opal Onyx – “Delta Sands” – [Tin Angel Records]

abacus   1/28/2015   12-inch, A Library

a surprising debut at first glance as this feels like a long awaited breakthrough from some mysterious group honing their sound for decades; but no, indeed a debut from this Brooklyn group with no previous projects to note. how is it that someone can just spring onto the scene unannounced and create a masterpiece such as this? almost frustrating… if not for the magnitude of beauty contained here: the opener immediately pulling you into its viscous clouds of ambience with its slogging and churning rhythms; not dark, but a shimmering black hue like the shiny opaque of its namesake. a misleading start though as the album’s sound grasps for clarity to its folky americana roots driven by guitar and cello melodies; like a dream we drift in and out of disjointed narratives, from the rustic confessions of Personal to the more gothic turn in Evaun and the morose desert dirge on The Devil, squinting in the hollow reverberating glare of the scalding black sun. as i said before, this album strikes as coming from a veteran supergroup perfecting their purpose over decades, with a distinctly dark-wave style traveling through the modern folk revival while passing through fields of trip-hop minus the beat and experimental noise plus the music. stylistically ambiguous and all the stronger because of it. sure to wow audiences with future endeavors and strike it big sooner than later, get ’em while they’re fresh.