Geologist is the nom-de-théâtre of Brian Weitz, whose pursuits have been an active part of the music underground since since he was 15, playing and working in alignment with an organic ensemble of friends that would one day choose to call what they were doing Animal Collective. Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? migrates from that tradition, containing a number of surprise affects of its own. #1 is that it is the first-ever proper Geologist solo album! For real. Surprise #2 is its pursuit of a musical answer to the not-oft-enuf-ast question: what if, back in the 80s, Ethan James had made a hurdy gurdy album for SST? Geologist’s affirmative answer to the question begins with another question — Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights?. It’s also the first step into a rippling songscape in which his hurdy gurdy gives and takes multiple forms, an epic electro-acoustic textile of many colors cut from the life and times of Brian Weitz. It’s an inspired ride through his phases and stages, with traditional sounds, ritual moods, avant, prog-jazz, kraut, post-punk and minimalist vibes merging in electronic infinity.
Time changes everything. Brian said the title of the album once a day for probably four thousand days in a row, at least. Now it’s been over five thousand days since he stopped saying it. Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights?, lit like a constellation, threads impulses and happenings across space, cherry picking from his psychic archive: the vibe of an energizing drive from Tucson into the desert, taken repeatedly in the early aughts; an incendiary live witness one night in the clubs in 1998; the unending thrill of the mind-meld in eternal recurrence. Geologist uses the drone and chanter strings, whose possibilities blew open the walls for him back then, to highlight these moments in the kaleidoscopic flow of memory.
It’s a process, right? These things take time! As he set the controls to account for a multitude of directions on this long-promised journey, Brian took inspiration from late-dawning solo eras of players like Bill Orcutt and Susan Alcorn. Then, hurdy gurdy in hand, Geologist realized structures, improvisations and rhythm tracks at home before seeking other energies at Asheville’s Drop of Sun Studio. At the session, Adam McDaniel helped a lot — he drafted drummers Emma Garau, Alianna Kalaba (FACS, Cat Power) and Ryan Oslance (The Dead Tongues, Indigo De Souza), Sham’s Shane McCord on clarinets and Mikey Powers on cello. Through vagaries of fate, Brian got Adam Lion to play vibraphone in a few places, Dave “Avey Tare” Portner for a couple bass tracks, and his son, Merrick Weitz, on acoustic guitar for “Government Job.” Izzy Barber painted the front cover and gatefold, capturing that Tucson magic, and Bob Nastanovich lettered the back cover, supplying additional pieces of time and space to the puzzle.
Through the mystery and science of record making, Geologist refracts beatifically through his back pages throughout Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? Realities and mirages flicker in and out of the aural parade route, and as we join the path of engagement, the puzzle transfers itself to our own experiences. That’s the beauty of records at work — and of this first record truly from the heart and soul of Geologist. Let your eras down, and let the mystery loose once more.
