Jake Acosta

Following the excellently skewed Rehearsal Park on Ryley Walker’s head-friendly hangout Husky Pants, guitarist Jake Acosta (ADT, Famous Laughs) proves that there’s no pinning down his sound on Genius or Not his third album, arriving on Blorpus Editions. Rehearsal Park found Jake occupying a languid syrup-dream of sound. It lapped at the center of the jam Tootsie pop, or as Walker is fond of putting it — it achieved an aura of ‘Post-Wook.’ The pieces were presented in side-long head trips that seemed to fold and refold their intentions with each passing minute. For the follow-up he’s lopped the lengths down to more immediately digestible sizes, but that’s not necessarily the biggest about face here. Noise crops its head into the mix, scarring the opener and “Calls 1992” with a caustic bite. The former is littered with lacerated hooks while the latter skitters like Lightning Bolt.

The record doesn’t keep its teeth out for the remainder, though. The centerpiece, “Speed Dreaming” approaches his longform impulses once again and winds through angles and inversions like some of the best moments on Rehearsal Park. The back half wipes the sweat and sinks into its own steam, finding Jake exploring acoustic ramble and kosmiche synth sounds. The record has a nice arc to it, skidding into view with the manic front half before disassembling its intentions in the 16+ minutes of “Speed Dreaming.” The track is the palpitating heart of the records, anxious and itching to get a hold of itself in wonderful ways. The title plays a bit of tongue-in-cheek, but this is certainly an argument for keeping an ear on what Acosta does next.

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