Cosmic Sound: “Backyard Woods”

May 29, 2012 0

It may seem odd to call music released just two years ago “ahead of its time,” but that really is how Austin producer Stephen Farris Cosmic Sound project comes across in 2012. Farris, who has gone on to release music under his own name since, only briefly used the Cosmic Sound nom de guerre before switching appellations. While VHS Vision is necessarily a product of its time, Cosmic Sound is way more interested in chopping, dicing, and reprocessing his tracks than suspending the listener in the beachy smog that characterized much of 2010’s synthier releases.

Opening track “Backyard Woods” is one of the more reverb-soaked tracks, at first sounding like early Washed Out or the Underwater Peoples roster, before diving into a funky Dilla-indebted beat. Taking up a different mood entirely, standout track “Little Flower” is a piece of near-disco perfection whose filtered electro is reminiscent of Caribou’s dancier moments sprinkled with a dash of French panache. Perhaps the best analog for Cosmic Sound is someone like DāM-FunK, whose head-bobbing eclecticism comes from a similar vein, or Com Truise (a noted fan of Farris’ himself), who uses analog synths with a similar humor and zeal. While it may not have gotten the credit it was due at the time, VHS Vision more than deserves a second shot. Don’t miss out this time around.

Grab VHS Vision now on limited edition cassette from Crash Symbols

Written by Nathan Reese

Tags: cosmic sound, crash symbols, stephen farris, vhs vision