Stefan Christensen

There certainly hasn’t been enough noise about this new record from Stefan Christiansen, a culmination of years of sonic gestation and a gathering of the New Haven psychedelic heads. Featuring multiple members from both Headroom and Mountain Movers, the new LP refines and renews some of Christensen’s motifs with the record reveling in two longform pieces that slip into the forest fog kicked up around Trees and Pärson Sound. Past albums from the songwriter have often been shrouded in the hiss and hues of a lower fidelity tape treatment, but on In Time, Stefan enters the studio with John Miller to scrub up the sound while still adhering to his psych-folk core. It’s a crisper vision of Christensen’s sound, but no less lost in the wilds. Weighted by woe, boiled in brooding, and dyed in dirge, the new album is a triumph from the long running songwriter.

Scraped with the scars of the ‘70s pastoral prog crowd and dusted with some ‘90s kiwi clatter, the record threads the niche of noisy outliers across eras. It balances fuzz-shredded exfoliation with tidal introspection, tossing the listener at the rocks and letting them sink to the bottom with their thoughts. Christensen also dives into his own roots, exploring his Finnish heritage with the haunting “Foreign Outlaw,” a song that sees him accompanied by jouhikko, tipping towards the traditional while feeling akin to some more contemporary explorers like Moundabout and Smote. The record shines a light inward, born out of meditation and goading the listener towards peeling back a few layers of their own consciousness as it unfolds. The record takes a few listens to really sink into the skin, but once it’s there it festers in with a delightful burn.

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