Named presumably for the mythological river that erases the memories of soon-to-be-reincarnated souls rather than the actual river in Alaska, Seattle instrumental trio Lethe make their debut on Reptile Records with Mnemosyne, a full-length titled after the goddess of memory who, by sleeping with Zeus, created the nine muses (Wikipedia is fun). So while there aren’t any lyrics to be had on the album, Lethe are nonetheless clearly working with a theme in mind. It’s the little touches.

With bassist Dylan Desmond having recently made waves with doomed behemoths Samothrace, you could call Lethe a side-project, but the band has a feel uniquely its own, mashing post-Neurosis riffs with pastoral stoner grooves (occasionally touching earlier Pelican territory, but careful not to let its feet stamp too hard thereupon) and offering sporadic twists almost on a one-per-track basis. Mnemosyne is made of five cuts, the shortest just over six minutes and the longest well over 12, but the splitting up is almost arbitrary because the band offers contrasting heavy and subtly rumbling movements throughout. Centerpiece and lengthiest of the bunch, the title track feels almost like it could be three separate songs, like the live-sounding drums of Adrian Guerra (Sod Hauler, Victory Garden) are the what’s keeping the whole thing from floating downstream and losing itself entirely. Not by any means a bad thing, since although they’re more than willing to meander, Lethe are equally capable of reining themselves back from even the most sudden cusp of self-indulgent oblivion.

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The PR wire would like you to? be aware of this new Samothrace side-project. I seem to recall stumbling on their MySpace page a little while back and thinking the artwork was cool and the sounds were decent. Anyway, worth checking out their two new songs if you’ve got a couple minutes.

Seattle-based psychedelic stoner rock outfit Lethe (featuring members of Samothrace) have just issued an update on their highly anticipated debut album, Mnemosyne. The album was recorded by Eric Graves (The Esoteric) at Black Lodge Studios and Mixtape Soundlabs in the band’s hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, and will be released by instrumental music giants Reptile Records.

Bassist Dylan Desmond divulged that, “It’s looking like mid August the pressing should be complete. We have a full-time drummer now named Adrian Guerra who also plays drums in the Seattle band Sod Hauler. He’s kicking ass and we’re writing a lot of new material with him. We’re officially a three piece now, and Adrian‘s input and style is a huge step up for our songwriting! We’re in the process of planning a November/December tour, and are probably going to begin recording a new full-length sometime early next year. “

To get a taste of Mnemosyne, head over to Lethe‘s MySpace and check out two new songs that appear on the record — “Mother Milk Eyes” and “Therefore Let Us Feed the Beast.”

Track listing:
1. Mother Milk Eyes
2. Therefore Let us Feed the Beast
3. New Queen’s
4. Open Harvest
5. Mnemosyne