Horseback

Patience is, indeed, a virtue. For Horseback and its sole constant, Jenks Miller, patience has been the unifying thread connecting disparate musical impulses. Under his alias or his given name, Miller has led listeners into meditative tranquility and harsh, turbulent conflict with equal success. And at his best, he does both. 2009's The Invisible Mountain, a towering feat of heavy-rock mastery, built its monument from kraut-rock, black-metal and cinematic Americana and brought its listeners on an epic, novel-worthy journey of struggle and redemption.

But that record offers only one of the far-flung destinations Horseback dares guide his listeners into. The 2007 debut, Impale Golden Horn, and last year's cassette-only release Forbidden Planet—repackaged together in May by Relapse Records as The Gorgon Tongue—offer the best encapsulation of Horseback's opposing instincts. Impale is a languid meditation, calming in its deliberate motions and warm, fuzz-laden timbres. It chimes and glistens and drifts gently. Forbidden Planet earns its sci-fi title by casting a barren, alien landscape punctuated by metallic chatters. Bass tones rumble and crash like tarry waves; Miller casts his voice, a strangled rasp, against flowing static. The melodies here are buried beneath shards. But, like the whole of Horseback's output, the two records that comprise The Gorgon Tongue are as rewarding as they are uniquely demanding.

Though Miller has kept his growing gathering of fans at bay with a torrent of small releases—including splits or collaborations with Nicholas Szczepanik, Voltigeurs, Pyramids and Locrian—and rare but fervently acclaimed live appearances, the anticipatiion is for Half Blood, The Invisible Mountain's proper full-length follow-up, expected this fall. The fans' virtue will be rewarded soon enough. —Bryan Reed