Kyrgyz is a name that will be unfamiliar to most, but the band's members read like an all-star team of Bay Area improvisers. This quartet consists of Tom Carter (Charalambides), Loren Chasse (The Blithe Sons, Thuja, etc), Christine Boepple (Skygreen Leopards Skyband), and Robert Horton (Broken Mask, Infinite Article, etc). Kyrgyz's debut album is 60 minutes of droned-out bliss. With its roots firmly planted in trance-inducing soil, the six songs here stretch their branches toward the sun.
When four artists of this caliber come together in a single setting, the expectations are high. There is tension to spare. But Kyrgyz is such a perfect blend of all their talents that it never implodes beneath the pressure. Horton is the hand that guides this mix of heavy, hypnotic drones, a thicket of acoustic scrawl, and even free jazz skronk.. After preliminary mixes from Chasse created a thick organic atmosphere, Horton took that feeling and ran with it. Each sound is carefully chosen and blended together magically. There are equal elements of Charalambides and Jewelled Antler throughout Kyrgyz, but again it is Horton that upsets the balance to create something completely new. In the end, this is nothing short of brilliant.