Matt Adams and his lifelong outfit the Blank Tapes have a new album called Look Into The Light—available from the Blank Tapes here, or in several spectacular visual variations from Nomad Eel—and despite the optimistic title it’s one of the heaviest things he’s done yet. It’s a smash cut of Stones/Flamin Groovies street rock, longhair 70s-adjacent riffs and stark El Topo endless-desert-of-the-mind imagery, and it’s the first ever Blank Tapes album with songs called “Death” and “Pure Evil” for sure.

But the record before that was the cosmically informed Super Bloom, a flower-power trip through canyon country trails that sometimes seemed like the David Crosby (or Sandy Bull) take on “Nature Boy” that never happened. That’s where these two songs come from. As fairly typical for the Blank Tapes, Adams played and recorded everything here himself, but he did recruit a cast and crew to join him as he wanders in wonderment through the outskirts of Joshua Tree. (While showing off an excellent succession of outfits courtesy Canadian stylist Ca$h Honey, each more psychedelic than the last.) These instrumentals have a back-to-the-land lo-fi feel that fits the kind of place where (as pictured) you’ll find mysterious musicians and their instruments at the head of every trail. Says Adams:

“I recorded these songs when I was living in Highland Park a few Summers ago.  My room was the only one on the second story so my room—and studio—would be like a sweat lodge. I think I recorded both of these songs while I was waiting for a friend to come over, just killing time, but I like the way they turned out.”

“Sweat Lodge/Jreaming” was filmed by longtime Adams friend C.J. Brion, and features friends-and-family cameos by bandmates and band buddies including Dirdy Birdy‘s Alan Siegel and J.D. Stone and the Last Days‘ Kiana, Sarah and Keegan Goodman. Like everyone else, Adams had to axe all scheduled shows, but like a growing number of resourceful musicians, he’ll be taking his tour online with a series of streaming sets. Follow him on Instagram at @theblanktapes for up-to-the-second announcements.