Since his early days in the mid 90’s dispensing wails and whimpers atop the quiet-loud emotive blasts of Texas legends Mineral, and the early 2000’s more synthesized (but no less bombastic)The Gloria Record, Chris Simpsonhas blazed an increasingly mysterious and self-determined trail with his Zookeeper and Mountain Time projects. And while the former arrived in 2006 as a surprising left turn of Van Morrison, Bob Dylan & The Band and The Kinks apostleship (best heard on Spartan Records vinyl reissue/compilation Saint Francis, Zookeeper, 2021) and culminated in the stark self portrait of 2014’s Pink Chalk—giving way to broader strokes and the Radiohead via John Calepalette of the latter’s 2020 debut, Music For Looking Animals—MountainTime’s latest LP,Dream Homes,finds Simpson’s storied past at once integrated and dissolved in an impossibly grand ocean of sound. In the loving hands of long-time creative collaborators and first time co-producersSeth Woods (ofThe WhiskeyPriestandCasita Records) and Alex Dupree—both accomplished artists and songwriters in their own right—the meticulous level of care and craft is compelling, and the invitation to communion feels warm and ecstatic. Resembling little more than himself at this point (though one may detect strains of his longest-standing muses, Lancaster, Pennsylvania’sTheInnocence Mission, or something like the chaotic glory ofBig Star’sThird)imbuing string-soaked 70s balladry and soaring ambient rock with an at times jazz-like freneticism,Dream Homes is a joyous romp through the kaleidoscopic vision ofSimpson’s mind and pen, his unmistakable croon more confident and focused than ever, leading the listener through a vast menagerie of dream-time landscapes, dropping Easter eggs at every twist and turn for future and returning Seekers, and painting a vivid picture of a creative life in full bloom. Presented by Hotel Vegas. This is a 21+ event