The Upcoming Flame

Stefan Christensen swamps delicate threads of melody in a muted squall of distortion. Waves of agitated noise, tamped down but still fractious, roll over the structures of his songs, so that it's hard to tell whether the song or the dissonant scree of sound is the main thing. A current member of Headroom and frequent collaborator with members of Mountain Movers, Alexander, and Nagual, Christensen layers haunted sung imagery over slow looped constructions of guitar and percussion. Here on The Upcoming Flame, the melodic fire flickers amid smoke, haze, and hum. The pretty folk strumming of "Arrows" provides a sharp contrast to the blistering roar of "Unkempt Power (This City's Hold)", whose wild guitar distortion edges close to Dinosaur Jr. Territory. The stark, minimal power of "G. Roberts", where a single electric guitar line carves through echo-shrouded hiss and hum is quite unlike the dystopian hypnotics of "Like Factories" a wavery chant weaving through mechanical assembly-line stomp.