Blitzen Trapper
sail into the mystic on their tenth studio effort, the existentialist audio road trip
Holy Smokes Future Jokes
. Using the Bardo Thodol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) as his guide, frontman
Eric Earley
attempts to parse "what it means to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth" with a versatile ten-song set that's built on a chassis of billowy psych rock, widescreen Americana, and chamber pop.
have been exploring the spirit realm in one form or another for well over a decade now, so the narrative throughline of
lines up canonically, as does the group's willingness to elasticize their already rubbery brand of indie Americana. Commencing with the spectral "Baptismal," things get elusive fast, with
Earley
ticking off a laundry list of disjointed memories over an elliptical verse melody that yields a sumptuous,
Fleet Foxes
-worthy chorus. The lilting "Bardo's Light (Ouija, Ouija)" and "Magical Thinking" follow suit, echoing the interior vastness of 2010's
Destroyer of the Void
, while the bracing "Masonic Temple Microdose #1" doubles back around with a tip of the cap to the band's lo-fi garage rock beginnings. Elsewhere, the Tropicalia-laced title cut evokes the sardonic folk-pop of
Father John Misty
, with the lurching "Dead Billie Jean" imagining
Michael Jackson
's now-deceased antagonist sharing spliffs with
Brian Jones
,
Jim Morrison
, and
Abraham Lincoln
while "slidin' through the aether in a dream." Despite its overtly metaphysical esthetic,
goes down fairly easy, as the band conjure up melodies that swaddle
's heady yet homespun lyrics in the golden hues of breezy west coast pop and country-folk. ~ James Christopher Monger