Record Review - Ecstatic Sunshine: Yesterday’s Work

Fans of minimalist composers like John Cage will find much to love about Ecstatic Sunshine’s latest, Yesterday’s Work. That isn’t to say the music is delivered with any pretense of being high art – the Baltimore group has always operated with a populist stance, more party than presentation. Guitarist and co-founder Dustin Wong left the band a couple of years back to play with fellow B-more art-punks Ponytail, allowing Matthew Papich to completely retool the group’s focus: Dueling guitars have been replaced by glitchy synths and atmospherics. Papich has said that the record is an auditory tribute to the sounds we hear in passing every day; it’s a lofty idea, but one explored to awesome effect on Yesterday’s Work. The minimalist approach the band has taken allows different aspects of the sound to shine through – it still sounds like sunshine, but now it’s more cool daybreak than hot high noon. 4 out of 5 stars.