Enlisting local luminaries Jonathan Horne (Young Mothers), Lisa Cameron (ST 37, Suspirians), Adam Jones (Bill Callahan), Bob Hoffnar (Mood Illusion), Thor Harris (Thor & Friends, Swans), and producer Zac Traeger, California native and Austin resident Raquel Bell moves through a haze of dreamy, avant-garde psychedelia on her third solo album. There’s enough reverb on “Stones” to obscure which sounds come from which instruments as Bell swoops from croon to cry to caterwaul. Adapting the Southwestern tonalities of her adopted state, she essays C&W of sorts on “Who Gets to Name the Name” and indie folk for “It’s Growing in Your Mouth.” The spaced-out rock & roll of “Wizard Liar” contrasts the freaky cabaret in “Swan,” Bell’s fire spirit vocals acting as connective tissue. Sounding like she’s channeling an entire No Idea Festival (of which she’s a veteran) into her own personal pop music, Raquel Bell envisions Texas as another, freakier dimension.

***.5

This article appears in August 24 • 2018.

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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.