Safe is self-described Missoula-to-Berkeley “goat enthusiast and musical multimedia artist” CF Edley, more formally Christopher F. Edley III. He tells the world he likes “birdwatching, goats, cooking goats, tobacco, singing at audiences, vorticist art, sticks and such, whiskey, sus chords when appropriate, Somali pirates kinda, the name ‘Dudus,’ the drummer Tony Williams, a whole host of friends, Matouk’s hot sauce, garage and loft disco, the political oval because it’s no spectrum,” etc. What’s all that sound like? It’ll be hard not to think of Arthur Russell or subliminal loft jazz in these airy, whispered, instantly addictive (but almost silent) songs. Unlike the promo blurb, the work’s understated and bracingly spare. Edley’s music is both distant (a side-effect of volume?) and intimate (a side-effect of volume?). Get acquainted via the first two tracks from the self-titled 10-song debut “EP.”

• Safe – “Twenty Years On”Download

• Safe – “Get Along Good”Download

Since you know what he likes, a few things he doesn’t:

Space travel (NASA, ESA, CNSA, etc.), the youth’s addiction to video games, the way the Persians attacked the Spartans at Thermopylae (arrows, from a cowardly distance), Connecticut, vegan fake-meats, Rand Paul, the color “nude,” and Meles Zenawi.

The Safe EP is up for free download right here (“Carefully Desperate” is another beauty). It’s also available on cassette and VHS at at Laser Cave, in conjunction with Greedhead Records. No word on what to expect re: the VHS, but there are probably some goats. Here’s a non-EP remix of “Get Along Good” by fellow BTW BRAHMS.

• Safe – “Get Along Good (BRAHMS Remix)”Download

[Photo by Bek Andersen]