Lantern Of The Soul finds spiritual groovelord Al Cisneros further building upon his own signature brand of dub-influenced psychedelia that he's been doing outside of hypno-metal ensemble Om and psychsludge pioneers Sleep. And like the other solo records that he's been putting out recently, this material trades the heavier, more metallic weight of his main gigs for a more spacious, experimental sound that digs deep into his love of classic dub, while still displaying his propensity for cyclical riffing and deep, brain-massaging psychedelia. Released on his own Sinai imprint, Lantern also marks one of his first solo outings to actually sound like a full band, with more expansive instrumentation that was apparently still all performed by Cisneros.

"Lantern Of The Soul" and the untitled b-side flow together as one long instrumental piece, weaving a languorous, vaguely mournful trance-state from this narcotic bass-driven psych rock that, with the addition of the slow, shuffling drumming that creeps across both sides of the record, ends up giving this a jazzier feel than some of his other solo records. As always, there's the heavy influence of classic dub, mainly in the long, fluid bass lines and the occasional rattle of snare that echoes across the lumbering groove, but the gorgeously murky synths that he layers over the music add an unusual fusiony feel, with bleary trumpet-like sounds blaring over the darkly sinuous riffing. Cisneros's bass guitar really rumbles off this single, the low notes hitting some seriously skull-massaging frequencies, and when the music slowly breaks down into the minimal stretches of just bass and drums that open up at the end, you can really feel your atoms reverberating. One of his best solo pieces so far, almost sounds like some vintage Italian western theme being worked over by one of those RareNoise heavy jazz/prog outfits.

Comes on clear vinyl, and as with the other Sinai 7"s, is minimally presented in a plain white paper sleeve.