It starts with the ordinary sounds of a par-for-the-course garage band: a drumkit, some mild, free-floating feedback, a guitar chugging along on a single note. Then, another guitar comes in, higher, chugging similarly away, maybe on one or two different notes. And then, another guitar comes in, and another, while the first guitar keeps banging away on that same note, until the walls of the garage fall away to reveal the cold, dark, starry infinity of space, with the sounds of a million guitars revolving majestically around the same single note. And at the very center of the sonic maelstrom, so far away you can barely make them out, are two people-- one seated at a drumkit, one playing a guitar.

Sometimes, one chord is all you need. And although they've been known to occasionally add a second chord here or there, Bright has exploited this philosophy to the hilt. Their gently drifting, mostly instrumental psychedelia may sound a bit "jammy" at times, but never in that extra-noodly Phish sort of way; their closest sonic relatives are Bardo Pond and Mogwai, though they're not as menacingly druggy as the former or as artily apocalyptic as the latter. What's most impressive about Full Negative (or) Breaks is how Bright fashions such spaced-out atmospheres from such prosaic elements. No matter how many delay-and-reverb-laden overdubs guitarist Mark Dwinell and drummer Joe Labrecque pile on, the raw rock sound that serves as these tracks' foundations is always present.

Full Negative (or) Breaks strikes a balance between Bright's rougher-sounding 1997 album, The Albatross Guest House, and Blue Christian, their nearly ambient, free-jazzy entry in Darla Records' Bliss Out series-- their sound has become more polished, but also better structured, with actual riffs and hooks floating through the mix.

Although the album is imbued with a drowsy, chilled-out feel (Dwinell's occasional singing bears a resemblance to a tranquilized Steve Malkmus), Bright shows that they can rock quite convincingly, especially on "Yeah! Holy Stones" and "I'm Colliding." Somewhat more subtle, but no less significant, is the creative rhythmic interplay between Dwinell and Labrecque; the syncopated underpinnings of "Full Negative" complement the song's feedback drones and squealing saxophone nicely, and "The Spire Will Be Your Landmark" is a nine-minute slow-motion blastoff, morphing from a drift into a gallop and back again with deceptive ease.

Although Bright has three other similar albums under their belt, Full Negative (or) Breaks is their most definitive release to date: space-rock with the improvisational soul of jazz.

-Nick Mirov