Rick White Album — 137

It may be too subtle for the casual listener to pick up, but with 137, a clearer identity is starting to emerge in the solo work of Rick White.

There's a hypnotic quality to much of 137. Many of the songs are propelled by a furious acoustic strum with lysergic guitar lines over top to create a sound that's just a touch too anxious to be meditative. There are clear nods to White's Elevator To Hell work in the rumble of "Perception," the jolting breakdown in "Belief" or the brilliant sonic adventure of "Grey Remains," but to get to the core of Rick White Album you have to look elsewhere, namely the song "One And Two."

There are layers of the song that any White follower will want to uncover. Buoyed by frenetic acoustics, guitar fuzz and ghostly "ah-Ah-ah-aahh-ah-Ah-ahs," White seemingly eulogizes what could be his past relationships or past bands. Or it could be a song about cats. Or about tripping on mushrooms in a forest. It's hard to tell, but it's fairly representative of the mysteries created in White's solo work.

137's a long album — 21 one songs of near relentless mind-expansion — but if you break it down into more modest three or four song EP-sized doses there are interesting worlds to uncover.