Amber Lions- Pink Panther Blood
 

The mystic worlds of Valerio Cosi and The Solo Joint collide as Amber Lions......one long track navigates through a dreamworld of saxophone, synth, strings and more strings all glazed in a mercurial fog. Magnificent.

3" CD-R edition of 123.

2007.   010.

OUT OF PRINT

Apples & Heroin:

Amber Lions’ mytsterious 3” begins with an amplified breath, which blends with a tea kettle screech or slight wind blow for an eerie introduction. A twinkling music box then cements the feeling. The band, featuring Valarie Cosi on a gaggle of instruments and a backing band of acoustic guitarists called “The Solo Joint,” draws an ambient map similar to Young Prayer by Panda Bear. Acoustic guitars jangle on a few notes like a Charlamaigne Palestine record, slowly ebbing, flowing, becoming intertwined and changing in timbre. Devotional wordless vocals channel Pet Sounds while a few guitars pluck accentuations. Eventually, the celebration becomes background fodder for a recording of creatures heavy night air. It fades back in stronger than before, as saxophone loops, a synth drone and tapestries of plucked strings form a sound maze. The horns soon provide a blanket for spoken word samples, buzzing static and synth frenzies, eventually ending with the same cascading guitar lines found at the beginning. At a time when many critics are attempting to quash the so-called “freak folk” movement, Amber Lions prove many avenues still need exploration before the style’s death.

Animal Psi:

Pink Panther Blood is my second encounter with Amber Lions, and unless I’m missing something (it happens all the time), the rough duo of Valerio Cosi and Tony Ruiz (give or take a few friends) are hesitant to appear on any more than three inches, their debut a self-titled gem for First Person [HERE]. Unlike that album, this disc houses a single track, the 16 ½ minute title-track, a languid bossanova in three phases, with twinkling music box construction, strummed and hummed guitar/vocals like a male Pocahaunted (to be current) or a Gilberto, and a harp/drone/sax combo (and what a combo!) which extrapolates its way through layer after accumulating layer, with hot radio textures, weaving horns, feedback percussive, and an overwhelming ecstatic rising as a tide. Again making the most of the constricted format, Amber Lions tear the shit out of these three inches. Limited to 123 copies and very, very great. Get this!