PURLING HISS - Water on Mars

With Water on Mars, Purling Hiss have broken out of the basement, run through the bedroom and are out in the streets, blasting one of the great guitar albums in the past couple minutes. Its a tumble of hits and ragers, sewing together nine new Purling Hiss celebration laments out of their usual patches of distortion, singing melodies and unexpected production hoohah -- but this time the unexpected part is how the guitars gleam so precisely as they pile upon each other, how they work alongside of the rhythm section rather than avalanching it. Water on Mars is Purling Hisss first recording outside the fuzzy confines of Mike Polizzes inner rock utopia, where the first three albums and EP were constructed in solitude with a home-recording setup. Over the past couple years, Mikes been working with a band and fine-tuning new songwriting ideas while playing shows all over the place. Now, Purling Hiss projects their sounds and ideas onto a new platform, with a visceral and soulful presence, and there is a center to the Hiss maelstrom, with Polizzes guitars slugging, sizzling and spiraling their way around the rhythmic throb." - Drag City.