Lungfish – The Unanimous Hour

BALTIMORE HAS BEGUN to rise! By the power of four, driven by Daniel Higgs' prophetic wisdom, Asa Osborne's furtive guitar lines and chord structures and the anvil rhythm section of Nathen Bell & Mitchell Feldstein - LUNGFISH are for whom the bell tolls.

Remaining stoic and irredeemable - culminating an unprecedented cubism with a primal cunning that borders on the automaton - LUNGFISH inhabit still or slow-moving waters, often in deep pools of abstract thought. No slaves to change, their tympanic force barely bends. An ethos they haven't changed since they began 11 years ago. This can prove daunting for some; religious for others. I fall into the latter category. As their sixth album to date, quite simply, grooves me. Another intrepid balance of lyrical and instrUmental content - songs like the punchy opener "Space Orgy" to the expressive atmospherics of "God's Will" (with Fugazi legend Ian Mackaye on guitar and backing vocals) - sealing the deal with the scrappy Dharma Bums (3)-ish "Mated." This is their finest hour, as they appear to continue with their perpetual stride.

Higgs' has recently published a book of poetry and drawings called "The Doomsday Bonnet" with Blind I Books and released a totally fucked up lo-fi home-brewed album with brother Alex in '98 called Cone Of Light (Magic Eye Singles). I wouldn't go rushing out to find Cone Of Light unless you're a completist; but based on the merits of LUNGFISH's oeuvre, "The Doomsday Bonnet" seems worthy a look.