Recording: Ryan Carley

Artist: Ryan Carley

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Milk Glass ("Casual Drones 11"), May 21, 2015.

Ryan Carley - [excerpt]

Although this was the eleventh instalment of this series curated by Lowell Sostomi (formerly of Great Bloomers), circumstance had hitherto kept me from checking it out. Intended as "a non-precious environment" at the fairly tiny Milk Glass, the series is both a space for musicians (mostly from the local indie rock scene) to experiment and for audiences to take in those experiments in a relaxed atmosphere — "casual" in all directions, then, and relatively catholic in its interpretation of that genre, open as it is to a wise range of drone-y, ambient and even noisy forms. The series also includes visuals, which on this night included some dodecagonal hangings and projections from Romar L. Johnson.

Keyboardist Ryan Carley has recently been spotted adding some fugue-y disruptions to New Fries' no-wave, but he has long been presenting more stately tunes in Kite Hill and Ohbijou. This set didn't rely on those musical tropes, but the relaxed drift of the bliptronica he offered here suggested a swim in an especially buoyant sea, where you don't have to worry about anything except watching the stars drift by overhead.

[Carley is promising a "cascading piano and synth set" on Monday (June 1st) at Holy Oak, playing alongside former bandmate Mika Posen, who brings her new Merganzer project.]