Vast by WET TUNA

“Vast,” the fourth studio album from Vermont’s Wet Tuna to make its way to vinyl and first since 2022, presents a wide-screen slab of psychedelia that could have only come from the hands / brain / interstellar groove telescope of Matt “MV” Valentine. Over the course of ten tracks you are hit with slice after slice of secretly whip-tight rural funk that is truly out of time. One tune in you start to feel gravity lighten your grip to the earth. By track three that lightness gives way to a distinct “when was this recorded?” vibe. 1960? 2170? 2280? By jam ten you’ve been so soaked in the aura that you no longer care as you know that you are HERE NOW. Where else have you ever been? Or wanted to be?

Long-time followers of the MV voyage know in broad brushstrokes that a new album is going to result in jams that swerve in and out of focus before locking firmly in on a dime, not unlike a zonked-out scan across a late-night radio dial. “Vast” is another classic chapter in the MV oeuvre, a scenic and sweetly paced journey through head music in all its finest forms which is equally situated to satisfy all of the long-time followers of his work as well as to create new acolytes. Looking for dubbed out electro? Warped R&B? Burnout fuzz? Crazy Horse scoring an alien abduction? Dick’s Picks Vol. 69 blazing across an underwater parking lot from the back of a truck bed? Scenes you never knew you needed but which were invented right here? It is *that* vast. Multiple vastness. Feel it?

This new album sees MV joined by Erika “EE” Elder and Jim Bliss across the entire ride with there-when-you-need-them pop ins from Ged Gengras, Roe Land and Samara Lubelski. It was, naturally, recorded in Spectrasound, resulting in an extra-wide, fat tape feeling that will make the Mo-Fi Sound Labs blush.

Wet Tuna is ever moving forward at its own pace into its own non-Euclidean audio geometries. Matt Valentine is never content to settle, always drifting and melting into the next station. Awaken from your motion-induced slumber and look at that stop listed at the front of the cabin. It reads “VAST”. The answer couldn’t be more clear. Where are we? Where are we headed? Everywhere. Everywhere. Ride with us, won’t you?

- Jeremy Erwin / Cory Rayborn -

WET TUNA was formed for all beings. legendary DJ/HEAD jeff conklin says "revel in the earth/space magic". exploration is paramount, we dig creating things.
keep on dubbing -> ∞
MV

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