With Guillermo Scott Herren’s albums under the Prefuse 73 moniker becoming increasingly dense affairs, stuffed to the gunnels with contrasting styles and collaborators, a new release under his Savath and Savalas guise is more welcome than ever.  It has gentle guitars, hypnotic harmonies, soft Spanish vocals, and most definitely no place for a guest spot from Ghostface Killah.

Jose Gonzalez, however, is permitted to somnambulate through “Estrella De Dos Caros”, fitting the prevailing mood so well that you barely notice him entering.  For the most part it is Herren himself taking the lead vocal, although “lead” may be putting it a bit strongly: the lyrics (in Spanish) could be a political polemic or thesis on quantum physics for all I know – to my ears they are a gossamer-thin patina glistening on top of a pot of soothing balm.  Albeit a deceptively deep pot – you can take as much or as little from Golden Pollen as you like, scrape a little from the surface or luxuriate deeply in the spellbinding attention to detail you’d expect from Herren – the skittery drumming on “Apnea Obstructivo”, the intricate yet delicate beats on “Paisaje”, the crunchy background electronic textures of “Concreto”, the orchestral swatches of “Mi Hijo”, or the fidgety clicks of “Ya Verdad”. 

It is the best Guillermo Scott Herren album in years, and if the last couple of weeks are anything to go by, it will be one of my most-played records of the year.  Golden Pollen is released June 18th, so you’ll need to pre-order.  And wait.