It has been an atypically quiet year for Barn Owl, but Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti have filled the void somewhat with major solo albums every bit as good as their main gig.  While Porras' Black Mesa heavily favored the band's lonely desert rock side, Caminiti's deceptively titled Dreamless Sleep takes a dreamier, dronier approach.  While its shimmering bliss sometimes lacks distinctiveness, Evan does a wonderful job balancing his ambient tendencies with healthy doses of tape hiss, unpredictability, and artfully controlled guitar squall.
It is hardly a surprise that one-half of a drone-heavy guitar duo has made a drone-heavy guitar album, but Dreamless Sleep is actually quite different from Caminiti's work in Barn Owl.  That difference will probably only be perceptible to fans, but it is significant nonetheless.  In fact, on pieces like "Bright Midnight," Evan seems to share more common ground with Tim Hecker than he does with Barn Owl.  I sincerely doubt that was deliberate though.  Rather, it likely stems from a radical change in Caminiti's process: he originally recorded the album onto a four-track in 2011 before leaving for a tour.  When he returned, he opted to radically overhaul and deconstruct what he had done.  The resultant aesthetic turned Evan's expected suite of glimmering EBow and synth drones into something a bit more gritty and satisfying, as his sustained tones sometimes stutter and battle washes of static and feedback.  That added contrast, tension, and unpredictability essentially elevate this album from a decent, but forgettable one to an unquestionably good one, as some of Evan's unmolested passages veer dangerously close to "pastoral."
There is not a single bad piece among these seven songs, but some definitely work better than others.  In general, Caminiti is at his best when he allows himself a long, slow-burning build-up and at his worst when he disrupts his hazy, languorous spell with something resembling a conventional guitar solo (rare) or when he allows things to get a bit too calm (less rare).  There are exceptions though, as "Symmetry" manages to steal the album despite being one of its shorter pieces, as its frailly shuddering and billowing notes are allowed enough space to be heard and matter.  Naturally,  such a fine piece unintentionally highlights a minor flaw (the recurring pattern of gradually escalating density), but it is hard to find that disappointing in the context of such a creative leap forward.  It also helps that all the songs with similar templates stand among the album's best.  More importantly, the longer pieces are varied and complex enough to render superficial structural similarities mostly irrelevant.  In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that Dreamless Sleep is essentially a solo guitar album recorded on a four-track, which is probably the highest compliment that I can pay Caminiti.
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