This record may take a while for some listeners. What may at first seem like a disjointed collection of ramshackle sonic events will reveal its peculiar internal logic on repeated listens. This is a very strange and understated album, but one with deep rewards for the patient among us.

Sunshine Has Blown is the duo of Joel Stern and Adam Park aided by various sound carriers from Brisbane, Australia. Each piece was recorded live and titled after the venue at which they were recorded. The instrumentation is a mix of acoustic instruments (most notably the mbira) and unobtrusive electronics. Park?s tape loops add pre-recorded elements to the mix which call to mind a more rustic version of Smegma.

Despite the fact that this is most definitely experimental music, it has a sort of indefinable old world charm to it. It is almost as though all these beautiful sounds were constructed with junk from the attic of deceased estate. At times it sounds like a beautifully haphazard collision of old music boxes and ragtime records played backwards. Track 3 sounds like wandering into an abandoned seaside town to find the Ferris wheel still turning after sixty years.

Like labelmates Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood, SHB buck current trends in experimental music by going for spaciousness rather than heavy blocks of sound or drone. Each player?s contribution is clearly audible in the mix. Such an approach could lead to a sense of aimlessness, but what SHB lack in propulsion they make up for with sheer sonic interestingness. The listener is free to wander amongst the sounds on this disc, stopping to focus on whatever happens to catch their attention.

If you?re anything like me you?ll wander happily for hours in the confines of this beguiling music. 9/10 -- Cola Nitida (13 February, 2007)