Surf Boundaries
Label: Ghostly International
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Surf Boundaries
Guitar-wrought ambience is essential to Californian Christopher Willits’ work, but on Surf Boundaries, he also references his coast’s better-known songwriters. Willits arranges layers of laptop-tweaked guitar as any bedroom musician would, while rampant vocal harmonies (featuring house artist Latrice Barnett) point to Brian Wilson as frequently as effects-loaded progressions reveal an affinity for Slowdive or Christian Fennesz. ‘Love Windâ?� basks in nearly grating high-end beatless splendor, and an ongoing album color theme enters and exits in four summery parts, often peppered with treated brass shots and computer-processed snare hits. A shuffling middle entry called ‘Green and Goldâ?� anchors Surf Boundaries in its successful mix of all the LP’s most noteworthy elements: a swirling synth loop, scattered pauses of pitch-bent horns and an indecipherable chorus of hippie vocals. Those hacky-sacking surfer burnouts in second period wood shop can only dream of communicating hazy bliss as effectively as Willits does. Far out, Chris.
This article appears in Nov 8-14, 2006.