Twenty-six minutes is a long time.  You could bake some brownies, watch an episode of Three’s Company, write a letter to your aunt or listen to the stellar and mind-bending “Don’t Be Afraid,” from the re-release of 2007′s Heads on Fire from spacerock champs White Hills.  The track starts with the horn from a steam boat melding into the dial and ring of a rotary telephone before formally launching into ten minutes of fuzzed out lyrics and wailing guitar freakouts.  Right around the twelve minute mark, the more traditional elements drop out, leaving a drifting, warping sonic landscape evocative of that bit in 2001 when Dave is flying into an acid trip.  At the fifteen minute mark, you hear some ghostly whispers (not to keep the pop culture references coming, but they’re reminiscent of backward talk from the kid on Lost) that reintroduce thunder god drums, more distorted vocals and electric guitar fireworks.  The repeated line in the track is the titular “Don’t be afraid.”  (Afraid of what?  My brains dripping out of my ears?  The world completely ending?)  Around the twenty minute mark, everything drops out again, and ambient sound drives the listener to the end before a faint an echo-filled blues riff pops back up.  Honest to god, I made popcorn in the middle.  It’s a rare band that can pull off the single half-hour song and hold the audience’s attention without coming off pompous or worse.  White Hills do it easily.  You’ll be listening to “Don’t Be Afraid” on the morning commute, windows down, stereo cranked, freaking the hell out of your fellow freeway crawlers.

The New York based trio (Dave W., founder and shredder, Ego Sensation on bass and Bob Bellomo on drums) released Heads on Fire on Rocket Recordings in 2007; it’s not all that easy to snag a copy.  Happily, Thrill Jockey (home to Citizen Dick favorites Pontiak and Double Dagger) is re-releasing the album (for the first time on vinyl, no less) on June 9.  There are probably three ways to interact with a re-release like this: 1) You bought the CD when it came out and your asshole roommate stole it.  2) Your much hipper roommate had a copy that you loved, but you were unable to steal it.  3) You missed it the first time and this is essentially a new record for you.  (There might be a fourth: You are in category 3, but want your girlfriend to think you’re in category 1, because it’s cooler.)  In any event, you’re going to be able to score something that you already loved or something that you’re going to love. (If you fall into the former category, you can check out, as I’m just going to spend the next 400 words or so trying to talk the folks in the latter category into the record.)

To a certain degree, if the description of the album’s magnum opus in the introduction piqued your interest, you’re going to want to get your hands on Heads on Fire. In large part, the rest of the record plays on the ideas developed across those twenty-six minutes.  “Visions of Past Present and Future” really works the same vein, just cuts out some of the ambient sound.  It’s a bit more focused than “Don’t Be Afraid,” but it still completely rocks.  This might be the best descriptor for Heads on Fire: it rocks.  While there are occasions when White Hills adopt a bit of cleverness, the spots that stand out on the album are the ones where they turn the dials to eleven and lay waste to the sonic landscape with cascading classic rock guitar wizardry, hammering drums and thumping bass lines.  Sure, they lay some seagull cries over the beginning and end of “Visions of Past Present and Future,” and some creepy giggling in the middle of “Eternity” but that’s (probably) just because there are a bunch of dials to spin in a studio.  I love the records we’ve been talking about lately (that’s what we’re about, remember), but it’s kind of nice to be able to push play on an album and let it kick me in the teeth for a bit.  There’s a cerebral edge to this record, but it’s more about visceral impact.  Good times.

If you’re curious and you enjoy “Radiate” below, jump on this one fast.  Thrill Jockey is only pressing 1,000 copies of the record and I’m thinking they’re going to fly off the shelf.  After that, I’d assume it’s going to be “material on backorder” for awhile.  The good news for the 1,001st person to hit the pre-order button is that Thrill Jockey is reporting new material from White Hills late this year or early in the next.  We’ll keep you updated as information becomes available.

“Radiate” – White Hills

Pre-order White Hills at Insound.  Oh yeah.