If you are drawn in by the high-pitched laser tone that opens “The Great Memory,” then there is no straying from the path of The Magi. The third full-length album from SF electric guitar trio Harjo consists only of this seven-and-a-half minute prelude and an enthralling second piece (the title track), which journeys through cosmic baffling drone for a magisterial 42 minutes. The slow, crushing sonic bath will be familiar territory for drone lovers, but the album likewise contains delicious moments of surprise—especially when the players incorporate wide gaps of silence. It is a silence utterly deafening, serving to cleanse the ears’ palette before circling back to the monstrous triple stacked distortion. A worthy trip.
