Droste [LP], Weeks Island, Vinyl

The Weeks Island project began in 2018 when, itching forsomething during a break from his gig playing guitar for theGrammy-winning Cajun group Lost Bayou Ramblers, JonnyCampos ventured to his bandmate's house and recorded a seriesof deep, amoebic, ambient pedal steel passages across twoafternoons. It wasn't all heavy, though: he paid that bandmate,Kirkland Middleton, in Cane's chicken strips.The tracks on Droste are named for bodies of water that nolonger exist, their names wiped from maps thanks to thedisintegrating shorelines of Southern Louisiana. That feeling ofimpermanence hangs over this record - the tracks don't so muchbegin and end as slip in and out of your consciousness. It can bea serene passive listen or a deep one that marinates long afterthe runout.Droste originally appeared on Nouveau Electric Records, run byanother Rambler, Louis Michot, in 2020, digitally and on cassette.DFA picked it up via an connection from LCD Soundsystem'sKorey Richey, and began a years-long process to cut the recordto vinyl, a task made difficult by the sharp pedal steel and wavesof harmonic distortion that color the music. After more than a fewtries and the addition of three brand new tracks, Bob Westonat Chicago Mastering Service nailed it, and it was pressedbeautifully at Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, VA.