While frequently pegged as a player in the new folk movement, Ben Chasny generally uses the plaintive finger-picking and gentle melodies of folk as a means to an end. On their latest disc, Shelter from the Ash, his band/project Six Organs of Admittance aims for nothing less than cosmic transcendence, and damned if the disc doesn't come close. Aided by friends such as drummer Noel Harmonson (from Comets On Fire), vocalist Elisa Ambrogio (of the Magik Markers) and producer Tim Green (of the mock-metal stars the Fucking Champs), Chasny draws from eastern drone traditions and folk, blues and rock variations, imbuing songs such as "Strangled Road" and "Coming to Get You" with a palpable sense of doom. The inherent prettiness and occasional otherworldliness of these tracks is tempered by the real ugliness that lies looming beneath their surface. The equal parts pacific and furious title track alone conveys more cathartic emotions in three short minutes than most albums offer in 10 times that span.

-- Joshua Klein