Cassette Review // ML WAH "Deep Roots" (Flower Room)

$8 //
Edition of 50 //
https://flowerroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ml-wah-deep-roots //

Electronic ping pong balls bounce around like a game of Pong and organ-type drone fills the air around them.    These tones which follow sound like keys of some kind but also have this Middle Earth feel to them, like I feel like we're about to embark on a magical quest.   That bouncing has seemingly become the beat here and this has a feeling like bagpipes about it to some extent as well.

This goes into a singing type of chanting and it just feels like... I'm not sure if we're sitting around in a circle somewhere, preparing for war, or out in the desert losing our minds to the heat, but either way I'm down for whatever.    There is this sax feeling, like how you would lure an animal to slumber or of a snakecharmer perhaps.    A long trip now, this feels like it could be something out of Woodstock.

Ultimately, this just breaks down into a cloud of distortion and then single guitar notes chime through in order.    Drum beats and bells now, that triangle ding into the stampede.    This begins to take on a tone which reminds me of The X-FIles.   The keys have shifted from what I heard earlier into something now which feels much more haunted and then the vocals come through and remind me of early Portugal, The Man.

That circle chanting sort of feel takes us to the end of Side A.    On the flip side these organ-like tones bring about this climbing beat and it feels like we're driving down a bumpy road.  It feels like there is a sax behind what could be described as a Doors caravan.    This somehow feels like it's droning but is really just ringing through here at such a steady pace.   Definite sitar vibes come through to where I feel like this is taking us to that sort of place now, yet it is so relaxing.

As it shakes and rattles, words are spoken and then the next song begins with footsteps and a drone.   Guitar notes come through like a sunset.   Though this carries a certain sense of energy with it, I could still see how someone could use it for meditation purposes.   It drones and rings but feels also like a march, like something more is happening than just the minimal sounds which we can hear.

Even though I've stressed the desert a lot in this review, I feel like this is something you could also listen to while getting lost in the woods.   But I think ideally, at least for me anyway, something about these sounds makes me feel like they should be best experienced in solitude for self reflection.