Also of alt.country act Mount Moriah, Chapel Hill, N.C., mad scientist Jenks Miller carefully recombines Southern rock, psychedelic ambience, and black metal, proclaiming “It’s alive!” over the corpus of a quirky but graceful monster. Three hours of demos, outtakes, live cuts, and other ephemera collected on three discs include everything from ersatz synth themes and dark folk rock to a 42-minute meditation on a single chord. Eccentric, eclectic, and brilliant. ****

This article appears in August 2 • 2013.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.