There?s no difficulty in seeing commonalities between Chicago collective Chord and this generation?s drone lords, SunnO))), but more than sound, it?s the fact that both bands were formed around concepts that seems to draw them together. With SunnO))), it was grimrobes and walls of amps, and with Chord, who make their Neurot Recordings debut with the full-length Flora, it?s what can happen when four guitarists unite in notes to play a single chord. Hence the name.

It?s kind of like The League of Crafty Guitarists gone drone, and what it mostly rounds out to is waves of feedback and noise that occasionally intertwine gorgeously to create the actual chord itself. The four tracks on Flora, ?Am7,? ?Gmaj (bflat13),? ?E9? and ?Am,? obviously named after the respective chords, aren?t just about achieving that unison, rather exploring the notes themselves, pushing them, distorting them and discovering what textures can be created through and by them. There are no vocals, no drums, no samples or bass, just the guitars of Kyle Benjamin, Trevor de Brauw (whom Chicago post-metal aficionados will recognize from Pelican), Jason Hoffman and Phil Dole. Don?t ask who?s playing which note.

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