THE BLACK SUN ENSEMBLE

The Black Sun Ensemble
Camera Obscura Records
www.cameraobscura.com 

Originally released on a small, private label (Pyknotic) in 1985, this CD contains remastered tracks from The Black Sun Ensemble's first album, as well as a few previously-unreleased tracks. These smooth, guitar-heavy instrumentals draw heavily on sixties psychedelica and middle Eastern tonal scales, strangely uplifting and happy while incorporating minor chords and melancholic harmonies. This relatively obscure band was way, way ahead of their time, and while maybe not directly influencing such present-day ensembles like Mogwai and Tortoise, the foundation for their music is already laid out here, a full decade before many of these bands even existed.       
Holly Day