Named for an acellular slime mold, Boston’s reliable, elusive Physarum’s 15th and 16th albums in 45 months adhere to his firm guidelines: each LP has 10 songs totaling 12-14 minutes, a weird two-word title (usually an adjective or descriptor followed by a place, with the first letter of each word always alphabetically increasing by one — e.g., Manic Attic, Nother Burrow, Oxic Castle, Psychid Dungeon, Quasi Eyrie, etc.) and yellow cover with sea flora or fauna artwork, is mastered by Guided By Voices producer Todd Tobias, and costs $1.79 for a digital copy on Bandcamp (or $9.98 for CD compilations of four LPs each on his website; he also writes paperback books of prose poems, but they are all sold out).
Music-wise, he constructs each brusque, ear-tickling tune using a light drum machine (which he calls “I.S.S.”), compact, frugal electric guitar riffs and sporadic acoustic, some keyboards, and high-pitched, treated vocals. But his perplexing, cryptic lyrics, about any subject that piques his curiosity, are what draw you in.
On Arcane Outland, traumatic memories (“Baby Blue Bridge,” “Stitches”) coexist with stories about oddball characters (“Call Up Dr. Goon,” “The Casket Maker”), mysterious places (“Mushroom Door,” “Greetings From Hair Mountain”), and a bird whose heavy appetite has dire consequences (“Bellyful of Rat”).
Meanwhile, Blasted Palace counters with tales of attic-dwelling influencers (“Transmit From Home”), unwanted estate sale items (“Dave’s Grenade”), junk-strewn watering holes (“Wasteoid Lake”), fossil kleptomaniacs (“Talisman Girl”), painful hangovers (“Tired Temple”), replacement parts (“New Head”), and Grateful Dead-loving weed procurers (“Kenny Punk”).
My past reviews of 2023’s Wicked Kingdom, Xenic Outlook, and Younger Mountain, and 2024’s Zero Nadir, have described his unassuming songs as “spartan and unlabored, yet fully-conceived and inviting despite their fleeting timespans” and “ample, punchy and engaging.” That holds true for the 20 on these two LPs as well, and most likely those on his newest 17th Cryptic Quarter, released in November. Dive in anywhere!
Artist Links: Bandcamp | Website / Label
