portlandia house bastion ecstasy termed temples 2012 debut mini-lp, i-vii, ambient jack, which captures something of the projects contradictory strengths: airy yet agile, sparse but plush, flights of intuition mapped onto morphing grids of percussion, crystalline electronics, and pastel skylines. avalon kalins latest collection of tech finery, earrings ii, dials back the atmospheric quotient somewhat, though theres still a rock garden spaciousness to his mixes, each element arranged with regard to some higher harmony, the poetry of negative space. recorded in his home studio while dancing, the four tracks here ebb between passages of pressure and release, euphoric but unstable, dusted with pyramid-chamber slap back and live dubbing acrobatics. their melting clock asymmetries more closely echo kalins hardware improvisations with scott goodwin as polonaise than the velvet vocal house of his other solo vessel, finesse, but temples is ultimately a holy place all its own. a sleekly compelling statement from one of the pacific northwests secret heroes. mastered by eric hanson. edition of 305
