Thrill Jockey Records

The opening seconds of “Stone Colored” – the psychedelic curry-and-sweat fest that initiates Rhyton’s self-titled debut album – are sensuous enough to capture your attention, yet ominous enough to make you flinch. Look/don’t look; listen/don’t listen. Go ahead – give it a try.

The first thing you hear is Jimy SeiTang’s stuttered heartbeat of a bass line, recorded so stark and clear that you can hear – no, feel – the slight buzzing vibration of the string left hanging at the end of each phrase. You’re thinking that it’d be nice to turn another light on, maybe, when you hear the beginnings of a feedback howl in the shadows; whatever it is, it’s still on its chain and God bless whoever’s in charge of that beast, ‘cause it sounds like it could get nasty if it came untethered. You work hard to convince yourself that everything’s going to be all right – and almost/sorta believe it … right up until Spencer Herbst’s drums slowly tumble into the dim light of the sound circle at the 20-second mark, blocking your escape.

Welcome to the world of Rhyton, a band composed of the aforementioned Herbst and SeiTang, along with Dave Shuford, the keeper of the stringed beast that stalks the shadows of the early moments of “Stone Colored”. Shuford’s weirdly-voiced electric mandolin joins in for real about 30 seconds into the cut and you’re done for. The bass and drums are dry and immediate-sounding, while Shuford’s fretwork sways and whips slowly like a fuzzed-out cobra, looking you straight in the eye. Herbst and Spencer play it straight for quite a while, letting Shuford do the stalking; and when they finally break into a rolling tumble that threatens to bury you, Shuford’s snakedance goes all apeshit and distorted.

This is headphone music, for sure – split signals and multiple amps make for thick-air textures that one needs to get into to appreciate. By the time you reach the end of “Stone Colored” (7 minutes and 22 seconds after it began), the cobra’s had its way with you – and you’re beat and weirded out and looking for more. Fortunately, there are four more cuts to flog your brain with.

The official album credits are as follows: SeiTang (from the band Psychic Ills) on bass and tape delays; Herbst (Messages, Matta Llama) on drums and percussion; and Shuford (No Neck Blues Band, D. Charles Speer) on the electric mando, baritone guitar, electro saz (go look it up and learn ya something, boys and girls), effects, and voice. And that be that. Rhyton is these three sonic Shackeltons doing some serious tone-and-rhythm explorations and Rhyton is the recorded evidence of what they found – five extended tracks of instrumental improvisation that happen as they happen, with all three members of the group leading/following/shape-shifting as one.

To Western ears, the underlying theme of the music would seem to be Middle Eastern at times, but that’s actually too limiting. Just accept that Rhyton is going to take you somewhere you’ve never been and go with it. Undulating rhythm throbs and plate shifts (“Dale Odalski”); sun spots that flash right between the ears (“Teke”); melodies that come, go, return, vanish, and never really existed (“Pontian Graves”) – this is all Rhyton at work.

Don’t be scared.