Long Beach player-producer-composer (and indie label head) Chris Schlarb is releasing what looks to be a bit of a magnum opus on Asthmatic Kitty Records this month.

Featuring nearly 30 musicians, including the inimitable DM Stith (a solo artist and member of Sufjan Stevens' band), Mike Watt of Minutemen, and two-thirds of local punkish act Rare Grooves (formerly Widow Babies), the album has rightly been dubbed Psychic Temple.

The holy mind-meld is, of course, written and directed by Schlarb, who's also part of the jazz duo I Heart Lung and runs the upstart imprint Sounds Are Active. The record was apparently over two years and, more specifically, 1000 hours in the making. And it sounds like this:

“Inspired by the rhythmic pulse of microhouse, and the melodic vocabulary of jazz and folk music, Psychic Temple is a deeply considered meditation on beauty.”

We think the free song below sounds something like Broken Social Scene meets Jaga Jazzist. And we think that's a very, very good thing. What do you think?

“I Can Live Forever if I Slowly Die” features Stith on vocals, plus Rare Grooves guitarist Danny Miller and a whole bunch of other talented peoples.

DOWNLOAD: Chris Schlarb – “I Can Live Forever If I Slowly Die” (MP3)

Psychic Temple is out digitally on November 23.

Schlarb has created a Kickstarter page to raise enough money to do a limited deluxe vinyl run. Top tier donations will earn you or your band a Schlarb-produced next album ($1500), or an at-home concert anywhere in the United States ($2500).

Says Schlarb (via Kickstarter):

“I composed, recorded and produced Psychic Temple in between truck driving, being a plumber's assistant, composing for short films, high school music teaching, and being a husband to my wife … and father to my beautiful children.”

So help him out, yeah?

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