"From the Zodiacal Light"

Earth move too slowly to surprise, right? Mind yourself, then, for the start of “From the Zodiacal Light”, the first glimpse at Earth’s forthcoming album, Primitive & Deadly, out September on Southern Lord. Since the band’s reboot a decade ago, Dylan Carlson’s guitar has purred and glistened, cut free from the webs of feedback and distortion that made the earliest Earth LPs cavernous and canonical. But he rumbles at the start here, caking Adrienne Davies’ steady meter with a burly, bristling tone.

Near the minute mark, Earth incorporate one of the biggest shocks of their quarter-century: a vocalist, one of the first to lace around their instrumentals since Kurt Cobain. Rabia Shaheen Qazi, who leads the psychedelic Seattle eclectics Rose Windows, becomes a bewitching presence across these 11 minutes. She delivers verses of redemption through darkness with a sinister beckon, suggesting the reserve of Sandy Denny and the brood of Jex Thoth. And Earth, now a pristine machine of a veteran band, doesn’t falter in fitting her into their mix. They find space for the song, just at the lip of their unwavering rhythm and the riff.