Sunflower Stories

iTunes Review

As the guitarist for the ethereally driven Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie was the unlikeliest of guitar heroes. He created his sound not with solos but with shimmering sheets of reverbed chords and echoing riffs meant to add spacey, environmental textures to the music’s slow-motion beauty. Sunflower Stories is the third EP, following Angel Falls and Songs to Help My Children Sleep, that consists of his light-as-air guitar touches. The dreamlike soundscapes can surely be used to help children sleep, to allow adults the opportunity to slow down their hectic day, and to enable anyone to meditate to its gentle, soothing sound. The four tracks here total a mere 16-plus minutes. If anything, the tunes often feel too short. “Horse Heaven” at three minutes and 20 seconds is fit for a pop song and it plays as if there are vocals hidden somewhere deep in the mix subliminally calling you into the vortex. “Petals” drips with notes falling like raindrops. This is high-class, first-rate ambient music.