scoundrel, Mar 22, 2004
Considering how Detroitian John Beltran’s early albums were, it’s no surprise then that his Indio project appears on perhaps the definitive Detroit label, Transmat. Beltran here returns to the smooth, complex arrangements that marked his work on Peacefrog. “I Need You in the Fall” is a fragile number, complemented by a melancholy piano line and some light bleeps. “A Thousand Storms,” instead of being all thunder and lightning, is more a light rain falling from an overcast sky. And the final track, “Snowdrifts,” does exactly that: drift along with some icy synth sweeps. Transmat, though not prolific, nonetheless delivers the goods.