The Chris Danforths
Outside of Outer Space
Essay / Super Asbestos
The opening title track on Chris Danforth’s first album – yes, it’s a one-man project – is a stunning gem of lo-fi psych-pop, an orchestral, angular and epic take on panoramic sunshine music, like some long-lost Elephant 6 track calling in from the twilight zone. Elsewhere, Outside of Outer Space is every bit as far out as its title suggests, an ambitious take on psychedelic pop filtered through analogue synthesizers and sketch-like compositions.
So sketch-like, in fact, that the tracks seem to attempt a deconstruction of conventional verse-chorus formulas to the extent that it’s sometimes hard to grasp them as individual songs as such. A noble project, for sure, however Danforth runs out of ideas a bit too soon, and the album as a whole falls a bit short because of it. Still, this is a daring and uncompromising album that does anything but outstay its welcome, and should appeal to the quirky at heart.
The Chris Danforths: http://www.skycrusher.com/danforth
