Combining the considerable talents of Matt Christensen and Mike Weis (Zelionople) and Scott Tuma (Souled American, Boxhead Ensemble, et al.), Good Stuff House wander the celestial byways kicking up clouds of cosmic dust. This is music equally at home dangling its legs off of an Appalachian back porch as it is hovering untethered in the echo chamber. Sporting an expansiveness reminiscent of the reverberant recordings emanating from the Jeweled Antler collective, but adding its own flavorings of Americana, it could be the perfect marriage of intimacy and cavernous resonance. What we’ve got here are seven tracks named simply for their ordinal position on the disc that exhibit a stellar diversity. Over the course of the disc, the sounds run the gamut between gentle, spare echoing bowed string and banjo ragas (“2”) and uplifting organ driven ascension a la recent Birchville Cat Motel (“3”). There’s as much thought in every broad gesture as there is in the minute acoustic details that enrich them.
The instrumentation alone is impressive in its scope. The more mundane tools of the trade like banjo, electric and acoustic guitars share space with dumbek, Indian keytar and an invented mutant called a universalator which is described as “guitar string attached to ceiling fan that strikes a homemade banjo.” Far from experimentation for its own sake, the addition of these seemingly oddball Rube Goldberg contraptions emphasizes the role of the room itself as its own resonant chamber. This makes for a singularly immersive listening experience. Along the same lines as Zelionople’s excellent Ink from last year, one feels simultaneously outside and inside the music. The opening track is a near perfect example of this balance. Clattery bells herald the arrival of a low sweeping drone whose edges are eventually articulated by a circular hypnotic banjo. Outside to inside, Good Stuff House welcomes you to their abode from the get go. The final track is another favorite, its wisps of warm swell and delicate hazy vocals functioning as a lullaby to tuck you in for the night. By the time the last tendrils have dissipated from the air, relaxation is complete.
It’s hard to say whether Good Stuff House is a one-off or whether these guys are going to start releasing more of the magic that arises from hanging out, inventing instruments, and getting it on tape. Personally, I’m hoping for the latter option.
