What�s unique about Dead Meadow is that they seem perpetually a beat out of time. It�s as if they�re broadcasting their music from a spectral plane, far removed from this mortal coil. The languid riffs, with less distortion overall than on Shivering Kings , float in the air, slowly enveloping you. If the music was tangible, it�d be best described as gossamer. Listening to Feathers is akin to waking up from a deep sleep. You hear it in your conscious and your subconscious, and you�re not sure which one it�s actually coming from. All you can really do is let the music envelope you and ride it out to its conclusion.

This is far and away my favorite of their four albums. It's not as fuzzy as the first two albums, no, but it's much more captivating. It's also the sort of album that really works as an ALBUM, not so much for any sort of conceptual continuity as the fact that the sequencing of the tracks makes them, when taken as a whole, add up to something much greater than the sum of its already impressive parts.

"Let's Jump In" has got the musical stuff that I love in such huge quantities it almost seems like an exaggeration, almost a parody even. A trippy, dreamy melody that flows like honey through your headphones. Rippling wah-wah pedal riffs so thick and lush they're almost visible. And then, at the song's end, up rears one of the biggest, simplest chunks of guitar riffage ever heard by man. Dead Meadow takes that riff and they Beat The Living Fuck out of it. It's so simple and huge and redundant that I might even think it was funny if I wasn't banging my head so hard my neck hurt. Jesus Christ, what a great song.

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