by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
New Mexico’s Tan Cologne are a product of their environment, creating floating psych with a endless desert aura from an alien landscape. The duo of Lauren Green (Mirror Travel) and interdisciplinary artist Marissa Macias have made something that feels sonically spiritual with their debut album, Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico, an airy record that is heavy on atmosphere and meditative dreaminess. Recorded in a 250+ year old historic adobe fortress located in Ranchos de Taos Plaza and a small hippie casita, you can feel the hot sun baking the recordings, working in a mirage like surrealism to their stunning harmonies and echoed drifts. Due out February 14th via Labrador Records, we’re excited to share a first listen to the album.
From the album’s title-track opener to the finale “Monsoon,” the duo sweep you from the planet and into their own, filled with serene imagery as beautiful as the New Mexican nature. Recorded by the band and with Green and Macias playing all instruments, each moment is purely Tan Cologne, from the meditative sway of “New Dune” to the extra terrestrial hum of “Alien,” they’ve built a sound that sparkles like the stars in the arid night. Their dream pop is flushed with guitars that wave through air thick enough to distort them and voices so gentle they intertwine with a hallucinatory presence. Songs like “Quartz of Rose” and “Strange God” hazily transport you to the desert to soak in the sun with vast open arrangements. It’s an exceptional debut album, a zen like way to start your week.
Upcoming shows:
02/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Hi-Hat
02/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
02/21 – Ojai, CA @ Greater Goods
02/22 – Joshua Tree, CA @ Lander’s Brewing