Psychlona Premiere “La Tolvanera”; Palo Verde Out Aug. 19
UK heavy rockers Psychlona release their third album, Palo Verde, on Aug. 19 through Psycho Waxx. That’s just in time for their appearance at Psycho Las Vegas 2022, from which the label is an offshoot. And Palo Verde is perhaps trivia-question-fodder as Psycho Waxx‘s first non-compilation release, but the eight fuzzed-out trippers, rockers and vibers that the Bradford four-piece led by guitarist/vocalist Phil Hey answer the promise of 2018’s Mojo Rising (discussed here) and 2020’s Venus Skytrip (review here) with a more expansive take overall across its 48 minutes.
To some that might mean psychedelia, that the record’s more bliss than shove, and I don’t know that that’s necessarily the case; there’s plenty of both. And in some cases it’s about how the balance is tipped to one side or the other. The side A shift from “Rainbird,” which has some push by the time its six minutes are through but starts out all languid, open-spaced tell-your-friends-to-come-to-this-party, hypnotic mellow bliss, to the clearly-Monolord-influenced “Meet Your Devil,” for example, allows the band — Hey, guitarist/vocalist Dave Wainfor, bassist Martyn “Turns Out it Was Food Poisoning” Birchall and drummer Scott Frankling — to mold and reshape the impression they leave behind while working roughly with the same basic sonic ideology: go big, go far out. But go.
And they do, with a clear intent at the outset for “Gasoline” to rev itself, the band and the listener up as its careening riff is joined by tense keyboard strikes in post-“Go With the Flow”-style, but its swelling and receding layers of guitar drop hints of some of the more lysergic fluidity to come later on with side B’s counterpoint leadoff “Purple River,” which has a build but is so much more about the drift than the payoff, or even the finale “Warped,” which tops seven minutes and lands one more solid hook through an ether of tonal swirl, sounding likewise jammy and structured. Again, that balance.
Palo Verde‘s first single, “1975,” takes hold after the opener’s feedback fades out and is led by Frankling‘s drums into a likewise-Songs–for–the–Deaf-ian burst to life and a riff that’s worth digging as deeply into as Psychlona does. 
The first two songs both have a long instrumental break that gives way back to the verse as clue to the underlying structure of songwriting from which the we-came-a-long-way-to-get-lost-in-this-desert-so-we’re-gonna-do-that spirit of the songs alights. In that context and in shifting from the opening salvo to the next stage of the record with a greater sense of breadth, “Rainbird” is right on time, with “Meet Your Devil” waiting right behind to bring it crashing down on your head.
There’s a kind of narrative there, in the classic nature of how Palo Verde presents itself, and it speaks to the band’s will to engage their audience. The rockers up front pull the listener in, the jammy flow entrances and then the big riff swings down. It’s a method that is both tried and true and Psychlona‘s own here as they contort their style to serve these varied purposes, and the plotline continues on the second half of the album, with “Purple River” leading into the fuzzy start-stop urgency of “Jetplane,” which brings Hey‘s vocals more forward from where they are on the song prior and resets with its outright catchiness the procession ahead of the penultimate “La Tolvanera” (premiering below) and “Warped” at the finish.
As the last of the chapters in the musical story, “La Tolvanera” and “Warped” are particularly intriguing, the former for its relatively concise 5:40 execution of a heavy psychedelic rock, which echoes like some of Elephant Tree‘s work but remains loyal to desert ideals, the riff surrounded by a wash that includes Hey‘s vocals but still very much at the core. “Warped” builds on this while summarizing the multifaceted sides of the tracks before it and directing its solo-laced payoff jam toward what I’ll assume is the heart of a hot, beating-down sun and letting it be all the way gone. No coming back and all that.
And not that the above isn’t relevant to how Palo Verde works, but what I haven’t mentioned yet is that the record is a blast. Psychlona have known all along where they wanted to head as a band, and even as these cuts provide outlet for that, they also cover some new ground for them, as both manifestation of craft and a look at what might come next. Psych suits them. Heavy suits them. Riffs suit them. Desert, crunch, shove — there isn’t any element being wasted here, and for an album that sounds as laid back as it does, that is not a minor accomplishment. If Palo Verde is what Psychlona have been moving toward all this time, the acclaim they’ve reaped as a result is well earned.
Enjoy “La Tolvanera” on the player below, followed by a few words from Hey and live dates, album info, etc., from the PR wire:
Psychlona, “La Tolvanera” premiere
Phil Hey on “La Tolvanera”:
“‘La Tolvanera’ was a tune I was messing around with for a while. I wanted it to be kind of spacey, spooky, and chilled out, but with some heavy as hell breaks in there too. Lyrically it’s loosely a sort of ‘big brother is watching’ covert mission to get across the desert, avoiding sinister beings and doing as you’re told if you want to eventually meet St. Peter. Bit tongue in cheek really. La Tolvanera is Spanish for dust cloud which adds to the secrecy of the mission.”
Preorder link: https://psychowaxx.com/
Formed in Bradford in the summer of 2016, Psychlona have fast become one of the UK’s most coveted heavy psych rock bands. Stealing influence from punk; the Palm Desert scene and 60s/70s psychedelia, two chapters deep into their cosmic journey (following 2018’s Mojo Rising and 2020’s Venus Skytrip), their highly anticipated third is on the horizon and could well be their most electrifying yet.
Teaming up with Psycho Waxx, the in-house label of Psycho Las Vegas Festival – America’s leading and legendary weekend of rock ‘n’ roll debauchery; matchless curation and aural attitude – Psychlona have well and truly found their spiritual home.
Arriving next month, Palo Verde is their third studio album of original material and Psycho Waxx’s first, following on from their inaugural release, Löve Me Förever: A Tribute to Motörhead; a compilation that featured contributions from the likes of Phil Anselmo, Nick Oliveri, High on Fire, Eyehategod, and many more.
Psychlona’s Palo Verde is released 19th August with vinyl pre-orders for the “GALAXY” variant – limited to 700 copies – available exclusively here at Psycho Waxx: https://psychowaxx.com/
PSYCHLONA Tour Dates:
13/8 – Sonic Blast Festival – Viana Do Castelo, Portugal
15/8 – Starline Social Club, Oakland, CA
16/8 – The Roxy Theatre – West Hollywood, CA
17/8 – The Wayfarer – Costa Mesa, CA
18/8 – The Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ
19/8 – Brick by Brick – San Diego, CA
20+21/8 – Psycho Las Vegas – Las Vegas, NV
17/9 – Riffolution Festival – Sheffield, UK
Psychlona:
Phil Hey – Guitar, Lead Vocals
Martyn Birchall – Bass
Dave Wainfor – Guitar, Vocals
Scott Frankling – Drums
