Press- Reviews
Oct. 30/ 2009--Review of "Desert Opuses" in Aural Innovations (thanks to Jeff Fitzgerald):
"This one man Winnipeg outfit takes stoner rock as a starting point, but from there, all bets are off. Seeking to distance himself from the more typical "verse chorus verse chorus" structure of a lot of modern rock, Ryan Electrocution instead focuses on sonic texture, hypnotic beats and rhythms, cinematic sweeps, and a good dose of very intense psychedelia. The first two cuts on the album are probably the closest High Watt Electrocutions come to what you would expect from a typical stoner rock band, but even so, there is nothing typical about these pieces. From the exquisitely beautiful harmony vocals that underpin the fuzzed out electric guitars of the chugging Mountains of the Pharoahs, to the (indeed) snakey Middle Eastern inspired guitar line that winds its way through the crunching rhythm of Ode to Snake Charming, these pieces, like everything on the album, define their own space and time, not tied to the constraints of any formula. Hence, we get the heavy but laid back trip of Light At the Speed of Sound, with druggy, chanting vocals, psychedelic guitar musings, and spacey organ, or the swirling layers of sonic soup set to a insistent beat in the decidedly out there Tut Will Have His Revenge.
Some tracks are instrumental, some have vocals, but the vocals are often buried deep in the mix, ghostly voices that soothe while the rest of the song goes wild. But each piece remains focused and distinctive, taking the listener on a dark and exotic trip through strange and haunted headscapes. Particularly effective are those songs that build or divert into unpredictable directions. Headphone Opus, for example, starts with a lonely, echoing piano meditation before exploding quite suddenly into a crunching, complex and quite amazing heavy psych opus, all the while buoyed by a mesmerizing vocal riff that repeats throughout. The final two pieces on the album slide nicely into one and other for an almost 11-minute long finale. Evilution pumps along to an fascinating, fuzzed out guitar pattern before slipping gracefully into a pulsing, Floydian style atmospheric journey complete with spaced out Farfisa organ. All this drifts quite naturally into the gothic and haunting organ and harmonica interplay of Stripped Ruins. A perfect, chilled out ending to an exhilarating album. If you're looking for something electrifying, different and trippy, Desert Opuses is definitely one to check out."
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