While splitting genre hairs can be a fun exercise in futility, the prolific duo of brothers Andy and Edwin White don’t give you much time to make up your mind. Because “psych” can often act as a sort of catchall, they’ve long been stashed under that umbrella, but the three winding tracks of Tonstartssbandht’s new Sorcerer (Mexican Summer) melt from Krautrock to heady almost-jazz to postrock to driving experimental art-rock and back before there’s time enough to find the groove. The whirling, ethereal vocals—which occasionally go deadpan, as if rattling off the label ingredients of a billowing potion—flow in and flow out like a tide lapping at a beach. And when the instrumentation coalesces to the point where it begins to tumble apart (like during the second half of the 13-minute “Opening”), Tonstartssbandht even show their growing prowess at building destruction. v
On Sorcerer, Tonstartssbandht show just how much more there is to psych
