REVIEW: Wyld Wyzrdz - Free Magic (Inner Islands)

Wyld Wyzardz
Free Magic
Inner Islands
BANDCAMP

This is the third release from Californian naturalist psych label Inner Islands and it is from the solo project of label owner Braden McKenna himself, Wyld Wyzardz - chief propoent of the meditative Earth music his label personifies.

Three tracks of immersive oceanic flotation drone, all sun sparkles and fresh salty sea breeze. The twenty-minute opener Ocean Wind plays on a softly lilting motif that winds gently onwards like an ambulating river down towards the sea; three central themes, a deep undercurrent of thick tones, an almost birdsong like trebly refrain that calls from the tops of each wave of mid-toned synth thrum as it peaks. It sounds really clean and fresh, crystal clear waters swishing at the banks of a channel that drifts toward an increasingly open outlet and the expanse of the pacific. The second much shorter track, Forest Light, is beholden in thrall to the bird-song it samples, almost a pre-requisite for being released on the label, McKenna emphasies the subtly harmonic and rhythmic ways in which the accompaniment of nature can enhance the glowing energies of this nu-age synthesiser drone. There's the sense of a timeline being traced as the album progresses, the long slow dawn, through a hazy midday then a cooling down and darkening. The final track Dragon's Garden ends with the chirruping of crickets and the creak of frog song – dusk drawing in on the close of the album.
Free Magic is out now available as download or 12" & d/l