Greg Ashley, mastermind behind the Gris Gris and the Mirrors, is going solo for the first time since his 1993 masterpiece Medicine F*** Dream. The result, Painted Garden, is Ashley's most ambitious, textured, beautiful and dark record to date. Warmer and more intimate than Gris Gris' 2005 garage-psych stunner for the Season, Painted Garden still reflects the same vision behind that band's greatness. Written in the burnt-out ghettos of Oakland and in Ashley's remote East Texas cabin, the album's ten songs drip with the psychedelic flair that turned on cats such as Roky Erikson, Mayo Thompson and Skip Spence (and more recently Vetiver, Six Organs of Admittance, and Devendra Banhart). Beautifully orchestrated, sometimes fragile and always fuzzy, the album features great tunes, proof that the young songwriter's star is still on the rise. Written, produced and performed almost entirely by the artist, Painted Garden is a true vision realized, and puts Ashley right up there with the great musical minds of the day.