M. Dwinell’s Golden Ratio is a curious thing. On this LP, Dwinell plays an electric organ using “a natural tuning system generated from the harmonic series,” which will only make sense to music theory geeks. But as I understand it, this partly means that the organ is tuned according to principles from a time when European musicians had different ideas about octaves and intervals than we do now. The difference is subtle to modern ears, but the harmonies on Golden Ratio have a buoyancy and candy-like sweetness of calm intensity. The compositional style is more contemporary than the tuning, using long arpeggiated passages that seem to freeze time even as they infinitely kaleidoscope before you, spaced between tracks of expansive drones. The whimsical tone of the organ helps give the album a slightly quirky sound, which lends to the virtual sense of being transported through minimalistic and softly psychedelic soundscapes of gyrating carnivalesque wonder and rainbow-colored clouds.

Go order a copy from the most excellent Amish Records. It comes with a free art book!