Review: Tarlton, Papa Theses

Tarlton, Papa Theses
(Afternoon Records)

Brett Bullion first made his name as a drummer and electronica artist with the Minneapolis trio Tiki Obmar, which took a sampler-heavy twist on the genre of guitar-based indie rock. Since the mid-2000s, Bullion has gone solo under the new moniker Tarlton. He now creates ethereally beautiful instrumental soundscapes that live somewhere between ambient electronica and the loop-and-drum-based experiments of another Minneapolis drummer, Martin Dosh. He’s been slow to release anything new since 2005’s debut EP, Van, but this year brings two fresh Tarlton discs: a full-length out later this fall and the new three-song EP, Papa Theses. Recorded in Seattle with a single drum kit and laptop, the trio of 8-minute circuit-bent soundscapes float and weave like a flock of seabirds over the ocean, with graceful swoops of sonic motion. Unhurried but never uninteresting, the music evolves slowly, changing from moment to moment with no apparent need for a more insistent direction.

Grade: B

Originally published in A.V. Club Twin Cities.

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