Ben Chasny is one of the few artists who, when coming into contact with his music for the first time, I knew I was going to like for the rest of my life. 2006 really was the year of true accomplishment for a lot of artists. Junior Boys, dubstep, Joanna Newsom, Villalobos, Matt Edwards, Wolf Eyes... the list goes on. The last record by Six Organs of Admittance was another.Chasny has come to the correct conclusion that haziness is not the true embodiment of psychedelia, rather quietly wielded power. When 'Black Wall' kicks in you realize that he is now able to put all his diverse persona (Six Organs, Current 93, psychedelics, Americana, the endless rock-'n-roll of Comets On Fire) in one powerful and perfectly contained and compelling song. And the 24 minutes of 'River of Transfiguration' (if this were the vinyl age, we would call such a track 'side-long') that conclude this record make sure you realize that good old Prog (see also Joanna Newsom) has gloriously been resurrected in 2006. But unlike Newsom he does not get his kicks from the elves and princesses of Middle Earth, or from some "God", but from a deeply felt mystical unity with the heathen Lord of Lysergia. True cowboys are hippies these days.
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