Our fast paced world needs music like ‘Ayahuasca’ from Vancouver Sleep Clinic, aka Tim Bettinson, his second single since announcing a break from Columbia Records through which he released his debut album Revival last year. Indie once again, Bettinson can do things his way, as well demonstrated with the writing process behind ‘Ayahuasca’. As the musician recalls, “‘Ayahuasca' is a world that I lived and breathed in over a weekend in my little studio apartment in L.A. I bought a bunch of food, shut the blinds, lined the walls with LEDs and locked myself into a journey for three days." The result is a song that’s well and truly worth taking a pause for. Opening with a fragile vocal and simple pop guitar, Bettinson’s feeling is transparent “miles and miles apart, darling, look how far we’ve come, I wish we could be closer, but we’re speaking different tongues.” I’m sure you’d be happy to stay in this lovely acoustic world, but VSL has other realms to visit, as we hear with the injection of electronica that expands the track’s sonic horizons. When we reach the two minute fifty seconds mark, it seems for a moment as though ‘Ayahuasca’ has finished, but then a sweeping, orchestral synth comes in. Reminiscent of nu-classical artist Olafur Arnalds (particularly his Trance Frendz collaboration with Nils Frahm), there’s a transporting atmosphere through the mid-section of this song. Here the listener might recede into their thoughts, or abandon their thoughts altogether, as Bettinson’s glassy vocals and deft production traverses across the stretched landscape of ‘Ayahuasca’. Towards the end, that acoustic guitar makes a return, matched with a sparkly xylophone notes and a vocal effect that brings to mind Brockhamptons’ ‘Lamb’. This is easily Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s best, most accomplished work to date. - HT