Sun Angle

Sun Angle

While spring is officially upon us, it doesn’t mean the rain has stopped or the mercury is rising in Portland. Sun Angle is a much needed shot of Vitamin-D to our collective pineal glands. broadcasting photons of posi-energy and other undetectable waves of vibe-age through psychedelic solar flares of improvisation and cosmic songwriting. The band, consisting of three distinctly PDX experimental rock veterans, is an ever-amorphous kind of rock and roll trio. Like a ray of light, Sun Angle’s sound consists of many varying wavelengths, each spectrum a different contribution from the talents of its members. Like all good things, Sun Angle defies genrefication.

Each song on the eponymous debut EP is precisely crafted around Charlie Salas-Humara’s spastic vocal displays, which serve as intergalactic communiques from space to an earth bound listener. Papi Fimbres’ (O Bruxo) drum kit locks into a consistent percussion orbit, anchored in its rotation by Marius Libman’s (Copy) rhythmic bass. Most songs on the record exude a tropical smoothie of self-professed progressive-fusion-cumbia-psychedelia, but tunes such as “Two Triangles Inside of a Circle…” are more akin to the jazz-centric stylings of bands like the Blues Project, made famous on the Monterrey Pop stage in the summer of love. The incorporation of flute on the last two songs of the EP is a telling escalation in Sun Angle’s nuanced, yet simple approach to progressive songwriting. While improvisationally cosmic in nature, Sun Angle’s accessible song structure will surely enlighten a larger audience to the power of solar music fusion.

— Wyatt Schaffner