Dick Slessig’s work rallies against the passage of time. The group was formed spontaneously at a party in 1990 by Mark Lightcap, Steve Goodfriend, and Carl Bronson with a spontaneous 90 minute cover of “Theme from the Endless Summer.” When Lightcap’s group Acetone was tragically curtailed after the passing of their singer/bassist Richie Lee in 2001 sightings of Slessig increased, if only slightly. More than the continuance of an easy-going aesthetic, the group distills duration even more radically, to the point where one song is all that’s ever needed—just ride it all the way. Since the release of a CD in 2004 where the group devotes 43 eidetic minutes to Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman, they have existed almost as a rumour, with very rare performances and fugitive recordings of their performances surfacing years later. This release is no different; recorded in 2000, pressed on vinyl in 2012, the release sat in boxes without covers until now.

At a glacial pace, the Dick Slessig’s music enters the fray. And what a revelation. Rock Your Baby, an attenuated cover of KC and the Sunshine Band’s proto-disco hit made famous by George McCrae, does anything but rock, it lulls and languishes, beautifully. Dick Slessig forgoes the vapid lyrics, instead latching onto the Roland TR 77’s soft rhythm and the machine’s blind drive for eternity. The entire A-side revels in skiffle, the musicians’ sparse sounds merely ornament to a perfect beat. It isn’t until half-way through the B-side that the song even becomes recognizable, and even then it avoids FM platitudes in favour of a gentle sway, right into the sunset. Timeless document of minimalism and cosmic Americana.

“I could listen to that forever.” — Greil Marcus

RIYL: Chet Atkins, James Benning, Tacita Dean, Henri Bergson, DJ Screw, Terry Riley, and Carl Andre.

2012 pressing with newly printed covers by 75 Records.