4 out of 5

Label: Perishable

Producer: Doug Scharin (mixed by)

Hazy and mysterious, Captain Onboard is Joe Goldring, who’s popped up in various projects – some touching the Perishable world, like Orso or Out in Worship – and then some outre stuff like Swans.  As is often the case with these sessiony type guys who’ve been around the world and then drop their own album, the result is sometimes lacking in identity.  It’s hard to remember Captain Onboard, and its swirling drones of layered instrumentals.  But that’s actually part of its charm.  Indeed, it seems somewhat intended, as the sounds swoop in and out, buzzing and swooning, but never really bowling you over for attention.  What’s most notable – and what makes me wish for more of this – is how organic it is.  This definitely slots into a ‘groove’ column, reminding me most directly of the wandering beats of Radian, but to my ear this is all done live (or the core elements are) and with real instruments.  Yet it avoids the jam session or overly jazzy feel of Doug Scharin’s stuff, and each song remains structured around a core repeating loop such that the tracks never stray too far into seeming improvised.  Opener ‘Picnic’ chimes around a warbling riff, with follower ‘Probe’ bringing in some harsher elements via some distorted noise twittering away.  ‘Arms’ is rather stunning, its guitar sounding like haunted vocals at some points, and closer ‘Onions’ revisits the concepts of ‘Probe’ but from a different, slightly more direct route.

Perishable Records fans will find themselves at home with the slightly folk-ified drone, but Captain Onboard perhaps has the most potential to attract outsiders (besides fan favorites Joan of Arc, of course) with a sound that’s a bit smoother than some of the more angular work that the label put out.