MP3 of the Day: Ecstatic Sunshine

(Photo by Dylan Peterson)

I got into work a little late this morning, and I blame Ecstatic Sunshine for my running behind. It was just too hard to pry myself away from the long, gorgeous instrumental of theirs that KUSF was broadcasting over the radio. It all went together so well: being half awake, staring at the fog, letting the band's layered mix if wiry guitar lines and atmospheric melodies keep me in a happy, dreamy headspace. The Baltimore duo's newest record, Way, sounds to me like a less intense No Age. In the places where the latter gets aggressive, Ecstatic Sunshine gets thoughtful, mellowing into some Six Organs of Admittance streams of acoustic consciousness at times, and pushing the dynamic into layered, lysergic repetitions at others. Anyway, I couldn't find the track KUSF was playing this morning as an MP3, but RCRDLBL has "Anagram" available for free streaming/downloading here. -- Jennifer Maerz