SQÜRL
EP #2
ATP Recordings
Street:11.05
SQÜRL = Purling Hiss + Horses In The Sky–era A Silver Mount Zion + Sic Alps
Spoiler alert: SQÜRL is Jim Jarmusch’s newest musical project. Name recognition can only travel so far, however. Even if Mr. Jarmusch weren’t involved in this project, I would still find this short stab of engineered no wave destruction paired with the lethargic and caustic wail of major–chord stoner riffs and a warped, warbled approximation of the music of the American West to be more than worth my time. This is pretty fascinating stuff. Coming off a brilliant collaboration with lute revivalist Josef van Wissem, this largely instrumental, sprawling compilation of psychedelic guitar explorations of dissonance and repetition is as good as any Jarmusch film: disconnected, adjacent to popular culture and unmistakably idiosyncratic. If you needed another reason, SQÜRL’S cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” is the best I have ever heard. –Ryan Hall