Ofir Ganon is a New York-based artist who focused on live and free improv performances for much of his career. On Same Air, he’s transferred the warmth and spontaneity of his in-person gigs to disc, making each revolution on your turntable feel feel like he’s playing straight to you.

Across the album, you’re treated to sunny waves of tranquil electric guitar that wobbles like the audio of an old VHS tape with sweetly pulsating reverb. With a style based on the devotional songs sung by Jewish-Moroccan farmers that the artist grew up around, Ganon’s fingerpicked fantasias and tonal meditations can lull you into a trance and send you deeply within your own mind.

There’s a vast range of sounds and configurations on this record, which makes it even more of an exciting and immersive listen. Some pieces are more minimalist and transport you to mystically calm zones, purely just by guitar and effect pedals alone, while others are almost kosmische-baroque with moving duets with cello or bass clarinet (check out “Regent” and “Pelham Blue” for respective examples). These tracks often feel cinematic in scope, rich with raw, yet complex, indescribable emotions. They could easily have each been composed for a Terrence Malick or David Lynch film.

Then, there are some tracks, like “Miel,” that have the atmosphere and drama of a grand spiritual ritual, complete with exuberant drums and meditative guitar lines. These cuts could easily expand into 45-minute Popol Vuh-like jams, and here’s hoping they will at some possible future Ofir Ganon concert.

If the more psychedelic side of the guitar soli world, kosmische guitar records and the soundtracks of ​​Angelo Badalamenti all share equal time on your turntable, then this is a record to snag asap. Get it on vinyl or digital from Island House Records here.

-KH