Thuja, Thuja... (side A)

2008's Thuja... starts out sounding a bit like Pelt, with layers of dark, heavy, and generally unamplified drones. It gradually resolves into a more typical Jeweled Antler Collective affair, with the drones gradually evolving into sparser acoustic layering. Seemingly everyone from Jeweled Antler shows up here, along with a few guests: 8 players in all. The recording and mastering are pretty primitive and lo-fi, without some of the exaggerated brightness of other albums from this crew, and the abstract cover painting is appropriate and tasteful.