Cacophonous and disturbing, the writhing, wriggling sounds conjured by Olympia, Washington trio Old Time Relijun somehow manage to evoke cauldron-broth’d Pagan dances, exorcism rituals of the Ancient World, and an Oly-Pop
hip-swing at a crossroads at midnight. Employing a rumble of drums, propulsive double-bass, and squalls of battered guitar, their loose, cantankerously funky, and supremely danceable jams are accompanied by the terrifyingly visceral vocals of Arrington De Dionyso, from whose throat emerge all manner of belches, barks, and howls. His band’s latest release Lost Light (their fourth for K Records) is their most narrative-driven yet, refining their swampy, voodoo-dance punk sound while allowing De Dionyso’s lyrical fascinations with the soul, the devil, the earth, the body, skeletons, skulls, vampires, witches, fire and water to develop a curious thematic cohesion. In other words, beneath this record’s shambolically funky, riotously impassioned and dynamically impulsive Beefheartian hullabaloo lies a story.