Kevin Bronson on September 18th, 2015

1

L.A. native Chris Karman, who works the moniker Historian, makes “headphones music.” Historian’s 2013 debut “Shelf Life” was a cinematic foray into intricately layered art-rock, and now Karman has completed the follow-up, “Current,” which will be released Oct. 30 by Kansas City-based The Record Machine (also the folks behind the Middle of the Map Festival). It’s an expansive album whose warm glow is liable to make you wish your headphones were permanent appendages; it abides the space-rock Karman loves — think Spiritualized, Mercury Rev — but the songs never fall out of orbit. Featuring the production assistance of Be Hussey (Radar Bros., GUIDES, et al) and strings from L.A.’s Quartetto Fantastico (Chris Woods, Paul Cartwright, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Peter Jacobson), “Current” comes from the Theater of Total Immersion, where an audience of one constitutes a full house. Here’s to getting “Pulled Under.”

||| Stream: “Pulled Under”