Review: Prana Crafter - Rupture Of Planes

Prana Crafter is William Sol and this, his second CD, is a bewitching mix of folky balladry and hazy psychedelia that is, frankly, beautiful (and that's not a word I generally bandy around with regard to music). That it is released by Deep Water Acres is less of a surprise; a label that has brought us offerings by,amongst others, Evening Fires and United Bible Studies, both no strangers to transcendent musical beauty.

'Rupture Of Planes' wrongfooted me at first; when lead off track 'Forest At First Light' started I thought I had mistakenly loaded a Neil Young album. The track has the same languid majesty as Young - a gentle acoustic guitar accompanied by Sol's plaintive yearnings (and more than a touch of Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum.) At the halfway mark some crystal sharp guitar joins, underpinned with some joyous fuzz, but not to the detriment of the atmosphere created by Sol. 'Diamond Cutter Of The Jagged Mountain' starts with some gently plucked guitar, almost Spanish in feel, and soon warms up to become a fuzzy instrumental psychedelic number with some great reverb drenched guitar. Title track 'Rupture Of Planes' successfully marries the styles of the preceeding tracks...ostensibly a singer/songwriter number brought alive by some more ace guitarwork. 'Moksha Of Melting Mind' begins with some hard-as-you-like riffs and swells and grows into eastern tinged guitar workout. The manner in which the guitars swirl and swoop give the track a lysergic psych vibe. 'Tara, Do You Remember The Way' sees Sol once again dip his toes into the Laurel Canyon troubadour territory...this could have been written and recorded in the late sixties/early seventies and would no doubt have made Sol a star. 'Treasure In A Ruin' is another bucolic psych number...slow burning, precise and highly atmospheric, almost bordering on the ambient; a gorgeous drone providing the backdrop to some ringing guitar. 'Dharma Dripping Lotus' follows in much the same vein - another meditative drone providing the accompaniment to some lovely acoustic guitar. 'Vessel' takes us back once again with Sol channelling his inner Neil Young on another introspective ballad before the stabbing riffs and echo of 'Birth Of Blooming Thunder' bring an atmosphere of foreboding, like just before a thunderstorm. 'Fog Has Lifted' provides a folksy ballad interlude before the lilting instrumental 'Prana Crafters Abode', another ambient guitar workout punctuated by stabs of fuzz and staccato riffs. 'Mudra Of The Mountain Throned' brings the album to a close in a haze of psych guitar; the juxtaposition here of ringing electric guitar with acoustic guitar is an effective and neatly encapsulates the album as a whole.

This is an incredibly intelligent album by an artist who does not feel the need to fit into a certain genre or style. The mix of singer/songwriter, west coast balladry with electrifying bursts of psych rock, all wrapped up in a rural mysticism is intoxicating and bewitching. 'Prana' is the sanskrit for 'life force' and that is reflected by the music - it is life-affirming and I certainly felt a better person having listened to it. 'Rupture Of Planes' is available from Deep Water Acres here.