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Reviews

The Skull Defekts, ‘Peer Amid’ (Thrill Jockey)

After post-hardcore savants Lungfish went on hiatus, their cultish fan base despaired of ever again hearing frontman Daniel Higgs go electric. Though Higgs’ psych-folk solo albums can pry open your third eye, hearing his muezzin wail over this thunderous, ovoid music, especially on the swinging, galloping title track, is downright epiphanous — he and his beard were born to kraut-rock. Elsewhere, he rants (“Dave, you heard the news about the sound? I have got to testify!”) and howls in wordless ecstasy (“What Knives, What Birds”). No one man should have all that power.