digiv012: sparkling wide pressure "field & string" LP $17 / $20 / $28
The last two years have been an impressive journey for Frank Baugh, the brains behind Sparkling Wide Pressure. He's released a multitudes of CDRs and cassettes on some of the best labels around (Stunned, Housecraft, etc) and spent time building up his own label focusing on the 3" CDR, Kimberly Dawn. So it feels like a natural progression for Baugh to finally bring his toys to this ball of wax, and trust me folks - this is his A-game times infinity. Bittersweet nostalgia has never sounded so fucking good.

One thing that always gets me about Sparkling Wide Pressure is Baugh's ability to collage a seemingly endless amount of styles into a seamless, cohesive whole. His music blurs together like watching a landscape pass by on a moving train. His work is visionary and instantly recognizable. A million different pieces slowly come together and eventually form shapes. Broken-down keyboards washed in hiss flutter around like decaying tape loops on "Clear Pathway," driving themselves straight into a wall of ramshackle guitars and minimalist beats. It's a lazy river of slowed-down drones and junkyard guitar, weaving together into something that is awkwardly beautiful.

"Jeremy Moves" is the real prize, though. Synth notes act as an anchor against the faint industrial rhythms and meandering crackle. Everything feels incredibly fragile as if each string Baugh is pulling could snap at any instant. The beats keep building and building into a cacaphonous flurry while vocals pierce through the murk, leaving a mark of hopefulness on everything beneath. It's a mini-masterpiece; Sparkling Wide Pressure's finest moment.

It all goes a bit wonky on the flip-side. Drunken campfire serenades with dying batteries and broken flutes. "Summoning" is disjointed on the surface yet expertly stitched together below. What really sets Baugh apart is his ability to tug at your heart-strings in the most subtle of ways. You don't even realize he's taking you back in time to a place you remember fondly, but by the time the journey is through, your emotions are exhausted and you're ready for another trip. In the culmination on "Completely Inside," the ghosts from your past are given a voice and the freedom to rise to the top, singing on crumbling wings. There's always been beauty in decay, but Sparkling Wide Pressure has his own brand to sling.

Edition of 150 copies with fold-out silkscreened covers designed by Jeremy Braden.

SIDE A: 1. clear pathway 2. jeremy moves
SIDE B: 1. summoning 2. completely inside