Bliss Out Vol. 13

by Dean CarlsonDarla's monthly Bliss Out series continues with Piano Magic's nautically obsessed excursion into strikingly broody waters. Featuring two somnolent 20-minute ambient halves, most of the attention should actually be directed toward the title track. As it drifts through about three or four main phases -- melodic mantras, underwater pulses, beat-less cries -- its core, grieving vocals by Lucy Gulland punch with the affecting force of a sonic boom. For that reason alone, Trick of the Sea: Bliss Out, Vol. 13 is surely a quiet masterstroke. A drowned grandeur that is difficult to resist, it seduces you like a mermaid taking you down to the bottom of the ocean to open your lungs to the sea.