After a long period of self-released soundscapes and studio leftovers, Guy Blakeslee returned last fall with his first official Entrance EP in nearly a decade, the four-song Vistavision expanse of Promises, a lush but all-too-brief rumination on the nature of time. For Book Of Changes, his subsequent first full-length, Blakeslee takes the same tack, creating a gorgeously melancholy sonic tapestry by spinning psychedelic folk gold from the mundane straw of daily existence and the universal search for tranquility and resolution. Blakeslee’s quavering vibrato and copious use of orchestration place him squarely in the Lee Hazlewood/Scott Walker/Jeff Buckley camp (“The Avenue”), but it also nods toward the sense of being mesmerized by the Mamas & The Papas’ folk/pop brilliance when it transformed the musical landscape of the ’60s (“I’d Be A Fool,” the epic “Revolution Eyes”) and the baroque-pop balladry of the Beatles from the same era (“Summer’s Child”). Book Of Changes signals an extraordinary new chapter in Blakeslee’s already storied creative evolution.
—Brian Baker
