LNZNDRF’s II is a mass hypnotism, somehow both thunderous and
trance-inducing. Recorded in extensive, shamanistic jam sessions at Austin’s Public Hi-Fi in September 2019 and later edited down to give it shape,
these songs feel like Right Now, with some toes testing the waters
of the future.
The brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf (The National), Ben Lanz
(The National, Beirut) and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Arntz (Beirut,
Grizzly Bear) are in headlamps and spelunking gear, descending
into a somnambulant space. Album deep cut “Ringwoodite,” with
it’s skittering, lithe and precise drums, is a summer sparkler of
song — whizzing by at such a clip it leaves you giddily following its
traces. On its heels are the computer lover “Gaskiers” and comeon-slow motorik anthem “Stowaway” that, while not connected by
sound, work in tandem to put LNZNDRF fully in the canon of
strange and indelible krautrock.
Its incantations seem to beckon the dystopia of present day as
much as they beckon the Big Mystery awaiting us when we finally
bust through its barrier. It won’t be a utopia but it will at least be
something different. As it goes on the lysergic post-punk standout
“You Still Rip”: "We'll live like fruitless trees towards endless
breeze linked as we please, the burning bridges smolder in our
wake.” Red rover, red rover, send LNZNDRF over.
Track Listing:
A
1/ The Xeric Steppe
2/ Brace Yourself
3/ You Still Rip
4/ Cascade
B
5/ Chicxulub
6/ Ringwoodite
7/ Gaskiers
8/ Stowaway
