Vitamin F

After releasing a handful of albums on Kranky, Portland, Ore.-based acid-jazz ensemble Fontanelle now find themselves on venerable doom label Southern Lord, home to bands like Black Breath and Lair of the Minotaur. The pairing isn’t as odd as it might seem—Fontanelle guitarist Rex Ritter did time with drone-doomers Sunn O))) over the past decade, and the experience seems to have rubbed off. Vitamin F marks the band’s first release since Style Drift a decade ago. Fontanelle drop dashes of jazz, rock and funk into this psychedelic brew, bringing to mind the sparse and spacey sounds of Miles Davis’ early-’70s electric era. One thing’s for sure—it doesn’t sound of this Earth. Horns clatter along with distorted guitars, analog synthesizers and fuzz bass throughout each improvised instrumental voyage. “Traumaturge” and “When the Fire Hits the Forest” are the album’s highlights, creeping along uncharted alien terrain and trading off shards of jagged guitar and piercing horn stabs. Vitamin F is wickedly eerie. And this batch of drugged-out sonic soul will leave you wondering whether it’s 1973 or 2033. Let’s just say the future is then.