Another brooding tapestry of shimmers and tempered drone unfurls, enter Bosh’s With You. Originally intended as a studio solo-project of Dima T. Pilot, founding member and guitarist for the Moscow-based Pilots Up In Smoke, Bosch’s With You inadvertently spilled over into a live format of the atmospheric instrumental variety. I’m assuming the name is linked to Hieronymus Bosch, an imaginative Dutch painter born in 1450, as they reference him under their influences. B.W.Y’s dream trilogy project also mirrors several triptychs of said painter, there’s a theme here somewhere I’m sure.

Citing Hammock and M.B.V. as mentors, there are notable flecks of both, albeit more the former than latter. To my ears at least, B.W.Y. are slightly more sterile and appear to have stolen certain sonic secrets from Labradford's Prazision, splashing them with some percussion and an extra pinch of drone. Initially, Dreams that Come a Thing Part One: ...Never Thought it May Seem... comes across as a slow burner, especially the idly strummed untitled opener, not the most captivating of starts, methinks, but it makes more sense as things progress. The second track “Episode #1 (Dreams that Come a Thing)” is where things get interesting, especially the fluctuation from its psychedelic entry which filters into a traditional drum/guitar trajectory. Nothing new here, you might say, true, however it achieves this in a bewitchingly delicate manner – what you might call a bleeding of subtle essences.

Clocking in at over fifty three minutes for six tracks (one of them is only two minutes in length, leaving a modest fifty for the remaining five), it’s hinting at a taxing mind excursion by these criteria alone. While the musicianship is somewhat simplistic yet effective, the album's grace lies in its texture. Slowly meandering between different densities of sound, from pitches and drones to drifting, contemplative fretwork, it’s an experimental pastiche and quite a demanding one at that. “Episode #2 (Dreams that Come a Thing)” displays this with an unyielding tonal onslaught which falls away to pensive six string and tapped ivories. While the pieces in all are quite lengthy, it’s these pleasant touches that offer up a memorable reprieve to slake one’s thirst.

It takes time to penetrate the skin of this deep, halcyonic dreamscape. Complete with its down-the-rabbi- hole artwork of a sky raining fish above an Alex In Ponderland bookish type, I don’t think it was meant as a quick fix anyway. There’s a feeling of familiarity, yet just when you sense its descending into lame-fest territory it throws up an amusing trinket by way of an intriguing change, drawing the listener back in. “Episodes #1/2 (Hoarfrost)” are distinctive when compared to the opening "Dreams That Come A Thing" trio with initial soft plucking giving way to blistering drone and outback twang guitar. What sounds like a field of feedback and distortion ensues heavy with reverb and trails off into amniotic darkness as if a distant train somewhere on the lonely plains. Nice – but somewhat askew from the theme and texture of the preceding tracks.

Overall I can’t help but feel that things seem a little disjointed with their introduction at this point. In fact, while interesting, per se, the Hoarfrost episodes are somewhat superfluous when juxtaposed with the other tracks here. This off kilter structure is a potential breeding ground for monotony, unfortunate as it’s quite enjoyable up to the fourth track of this release. "Episode #4 (Dreams that Come a Thing)" is strangely enough on the second release (D.T.C.A.T. pt2), whilst the previous three episodes are on the first – it beggars belief as this seems like the lost paragraph to complete the tale and would have capped things off perfectly in a cohesive sense.

The feeling that this release has been scuppered by an unnecessary stumbling block hangs in the air; to me it smacks of a talented band that lacked the wherewithal to navigate its own odyssey. It’s quality not quantity in my book, and although containing some pleasing passages, it’s burdened by a schoolboy flaw which restrains its due glory. What could’ve been a superior release took a nose dive short of the runway, but if you can overlook the final compositional couplet you’ll find the silver lining.

-James Crossan