The initial plan for Cyclops Reap was to compile the scraps that didn't quite make the last four White Fence LPs. Apparently, Tim Presley has about 40 unreleased songs lying around, which, considering his backlog and work ethic, makes sense. Since 2010, he's released four solo LPs, one collaborative album with Ty Segall, a live cassette, and a handful of singles. And that doesn't even cover his tenure in other bands. His albums are all nearly overcrowded by sonic ideas and psychedelic twists. Even one of his simpler songs, the acoustic track "Balance Yr Heart" off Family Perfume Vol. 1, gives the impression that he spliced together two different-but-similar songs that were floating in his head. In just three years, he's managed to poise himself as a prolific artist in a town that runneth over with prolific artists (Segall, Sonny Smith, Thee Oh Sees mastermind and Castle Face head John Dwyer).
While gathering up old stuff for Cyclops Reap, Presley's prolific instincts kicked in: "there were more coming. a better crop," he wrote in a press release. He wrote more songs, recorded them to the four-track in his bedroom, and scrapped the compilation altogether. The album ends up being a testament to what Presley has learned in terms of home recording: It's his best-sounding and most easily accessible album to date. It still comes packed with less-than-pristine production and some of the psychedelic tics that marked his previous work, but for the most part, these songs are marked by a surprising amount of clarity. For something with such modest origins, this thing sounds at least as good as Hair, which was made in the studio.
And these songs don't ever feel overstuffed. Everything is faithful to White Fence's well-established aesthetic, but simplified. There's no jumping around or writing three melodies when there only needs to be one. It's a refreshingly streamlined record, and more so than his previous work, there's a slight-but-palpable country influence. Presley picks an acoustic guitar, adds the occasional Southern guitar lick, and sings sweet melodies. In places, this thing could pass for a straightforward singer/songwriter album. (An influence that would make sense, seeing as he started his label just to release Jessica Pratt's album.) "Beat" and "Only Man Alive", for example, are clear of fuzz and psych freakouts. He just delivers beautiful melodies backed by minimal percussion. This isn't to say that Presley's delivering shockingly intimate lyrics-- as usual, they're stories and phrases doused in abstractions and poeticisms. But sometimes, there's a warmth and familiarity in his words: The instrumentals and vocals in "Live on Genevieve" might sound cartoonishly warped and bleary, but the sentiment of "I wanna live on Genevieve Street with you" feels resonant.
Of course, it's not all cooing and ginger acoustic guitar strumming. He balances the album's softer moments with "Pink Gorilla", the beefiest track of the bunch. It's a song slathered in acid-burnt fuzz where Presley stretches out with an echoing psych guitar solo after hammering out a simple, solid power chord hook. The songs here are lovely, but ultimately, this thing needed some heft-- something that keeps the album's airier material from melding together or, worse, floating by completely, and "Pink Gorilla" fits the bill. That's one of Presley's greatest strengths as a composer-- he anchors Reap's quieter songs with substantive sonics.
There's only one old song on Cyclops Reap: "Make Them Dinner at Our Shoes", which is from 2009. Like every other track on the album, it's masked under a thin layer of hiss. It's hard to tell exactly what he's singing in places-- his vocals are occasionally eaten by his guitar or another sound-- but one phrase is always clear: "clear open sky." Those words are backed by bright major chords on an electric guitar and the soft, steady ambiance of a shaker. Like most of White Fence's lyrics, it's unclear what those words are trying to communicate in a literal sense, but packaged the way they are, the emotional connection is clear.
