LA Priest - Fase Luna

Third albums are notoriously hard to execute – what balance does an artist strike between new, potentially alienating directions and wringing out the same old ideas? It’s a tightrope that LA Priest’s Sam Eastgate has managed to walk with precision on this new outing, replacing his signature synths with a style of guitar both familiar to him and unique to anything else. From the first notes of ‘On’, the woozy chords and melodies call to mind past collaborator Connan Mockasin, a fever dream of eerie calm. At a few well-placed moments, Sam breaks out concise numbers – ‘It’s You’ and ‘Neon’ both stand out – but that’s not really what this album is about. Where it breathes is in between these songs, where the guitars meander in ghostly meditations, where his voice fades away and what’s left behind is sparse and contemplative. ‘Star’ is the apex of this: in its absences are some of the deepest and most poignant moments of LA Priest’s discography. This album sometimes veers a little too close to jam-band territory, but its best ideas are transcendent displays of a fragile soul.