Half Price at 3:30＜Red Velvet Vinyl/限定盤＞

The second album by Luke Temple alter ego Art Feynman, Half Price at 3:30, follows Temples sixth long-player under his own name, 2019s Both-And. Whereas his main solo releases sometimes venture into purer acoustic folk, his output as Feynman has remained in a trippy, ethereal, electro-acoustic territory that often moves seamlessly between structured song and something more improvisatory. There is definitely some stylistic overlap between the two catalogs, however, at least to the outside ear. Half Price at 3:30 is highlighted by an elegant, wistful closer titled I Can Dream (Dream about loving you endlessly/Dream about you being made for me/Lost in the land of my dreams) and the also-dreamy synthesizer pop track Taking on Hollywood. The latter incorporates reproduced string voices, Atari-era-type keyboard tones, and human body-produced percussion samples into its gentle, otherworldly soundscape. Only adding to that impression are Temples daydreamy, honey-smooth vocals, made more unearthly by subtle pitch-correction implements. Sound effects and more of the albums robotic keyboard timbres populate the cinematic Ideal Drama, and the meandering Im Gonna Miss Your World brings the slowly unfolding shifts of jam band improvisation into the electronic realm without leaving the funky bassline behind. Elsewhere, Not My Guy invites a heavy dose of whimsy into the set. While the moods here are a little uneven, Half Price at 3:30 works as an immersive full-length, hypnotizing with a consistently soft, playful palette and wavering structures that, together, make even passages of borderline synth pop blend with more meandering folktronica explorations. ~ Marcy Donelson