It’s been a productive several months for Romanian power trio The :Egocentrics. The Timisoara band’s debut, Love Fear Choices and Astronauts (review here), earned them a deal with German psych juggernaut Nasoni Records, they played numerous shows, and apparently somehow found time to write and record their new sophomore outing, Center of the Cyclone, showing remarkable growth in the process. Their sound is still aligned to the jammy side of the international desert rock scene – bands like Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma and earlier Los Natas providing reference points – but compared to the debut, this vinyl-ready seven-song, 40-minute outing feels much more accomplished, structured and self-assured. It’s still the same band, the same players involved, but there’s a newfound sense of purpose behind what they’re doing, as though they’ve found the sound they want to execute and now have the prowess and chemistry to make it happen.

And don’t get me wrong, I liked Love Fear Choices and Astronauts. I’m not about to start slagging that record in favor of Center of the Cyclone, but it’s a different breed of the same animal. The songs here – still completely instrumental, still led mostly by guitarist Brenn with sampled or spoken vocals mixed into the ambience – are more complete in terms of ideology. They’re not just jams, but actively trying to evoke an atmosphere. Right from opener “A Road Less Travelled,” which features the organ work of Mihai Toma, who also recorded Center of the Cyclone this past fall, The :Egocentrics sound calmer, more confident and solid all around. The pastoral feel continues through the more active “Off the Center,” which is the longest song on the album at just over eight minutes. Drummer Hera and bassist Jess give the guitars plenty of room without losing sight of the rhythm at work, and their space-charged ring-outs and crashes lend a surprisingly epic feel where otherwise “A Road Less Travelled” would just fizzle.

Brenn’s guitar offers newfound lyricism on “Sink or Swim,” which is perhaps the cut most reminiscent of Natas’ Delmar or Ciudad de Brahman, Mihai Toma again contributing, this time on electric piano and spoken vocals. The :Egocentrics keep a lively feel to their approach across the entirety of Center of the Cyclone, but contrary to the album’s name, it’s not all whirlwind and craziness. Rather, the band incorporate a variety of moods and vibes, the wistful fuzz of “Sink or Swim” being just one of them, and balanced immediately by centerpiece track “Blissful Idiot,” which is faster, near-punkish in its percussion and about the most straightforwardly stoner rock song the trio have on offer. The back-and-forth interplay between more subdued and active material works because The :Egocentrics don’t just rely on “riff and crash” as a formula for either. Rather, the parts of which these songs are constructed are intricate and well developed, their changes subtle and warm without being trite or redundant stylistically. If Brenn, Hera and Jess sounded genuine in their affection for psychedelia before, now they sound completely at home in it as well.

Things get quiet again and airy on “Intuition and Coincidence,” with just the guitar taking center stage over some sampled-ambience and maybe a little background bass from Jess. Another sample leads the way out of the calming experience and into “The Unknown Sings,” which is another of Center of the Cyclone’s longer cuts at seven minutes. I’d call the former an intro for the latter if “Intuition and Coincidence” didn’t have so much of a life of its own, but either way, the lead-in is effective, and “The Unknown Sings,” with its thick, live, Colour Hazed tonality, is a highlight of the album. Perhaps it’s the band returning somewhat to the jammed-out feel of Love Fear Choices and Astronauts, with the drop into a quiet section and gradual build out of it, but even this familiar ground they now trod with heavier feet. The groove is paramount, and all three members of the band serve it completely and in good faith, to make the song a new high point in terms of style and bringing elements of the first album up to the level of the second.

They close with “Lost and Found,” a more playful jam with Jess’ best bass performance. With about a minute of the track’s total five left, The :Egocentrics crash head on into a crash and ring section like that on “A Road Less Travelled,” with Brenn ultimately reviving the riff that kicked off the opener and Center of the Cyclone as a whole, rounding out the album with a symmetry that only speaks to the increase of thoughtfulness in composition since the first record. This growth in no way feels complete across these songs, but at the same time, that’s precisely what makes listening to them so exciting. While also enjoyable on a basic “pleasant to the ear” level, they quite literally are the product of a band establishing themselves as a unit with a focus, a stated purpose and – most importantly – the ability to see those things through. Center of the Cyclone probably isn’t a sonic revolution, engaging as it is, but the potential shown on Love Fear Choices and Astronauts is beginning to see its payoff, and I’m eager to see where The :Egocentrics take their increasingly individual sound next.

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Nasoni Records

Tags: Nasoni, Romania, The :Egocentrics, Timisoara

This entry was posted on Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.