Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: ‘Slave Cylinder’ opens with a nod to Sabbath?s ‘N.I.B.’,  and from there, Cosmic Priestess ? the second album from Tia Carrera on Small Stone Records ? only gets trippier. The Austin, Texas, trio made their label debut in 2009 with The Quintessential, and while that album felt especially geared toward transposing their live sound to plastic, Cosmic Priestess seems more of a studio effort.

Of course, the band relies heavily on improvisation throughout the four extended instrumental jams that make up the new collection, but it?s a different entity, a different spirit driving them throughout. Doubtless it was recorded live, the three of them in a single room, but the clean sound is thick with bass and rich classic rock drumming, and relies less on feedback to fill empty space than did The Quintessential. It?s less just about the noise and more about the interaction among players.

At least I think it is. Entirely possible I have my head up my ass and Cosmic Priestess is nothing more than three dudes ripping out good vibes for upwards of 30 minutes at a clip. Whatever the case, Tia Carrera not only manage to capture the excitement and immediacy of the best of heavy and / or stoner rock, but they do so now based on concrete ideas of what they want each piece of music to accomplish.

‘Slave Cylinder’ wraps with the three-piece ? Erik Conn (drums), Andrew Duplantis (bass) and Jason Morales (guitar) ? coming together to drive home a central riff, before ‘Sand, Stone and Pearl’ opens wide into electric piano and sustained notes from Morales. The heady psychedelia is a change from the opener, and shows Tia Carrera have more to their sound than simple jam-band pseudo-jazz crescendos or pointless noodling

Continue reading: The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Tia Carrera, Cosmic Priestess: The Expanding Universe.
(Courtesy of The Obelisk)