Quarterly Review: Tortuga, Spidergawd, Morag Tong, Conny Ochs, Ritual King, Oldest Sea, Dim Electrics, Mountain of Misery, Aawks, Kaliyuga Express

Posted in Reviews on November 30th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

The-Obelisk-Quarterly-Review

Generally I think of Thursday as the penultimate day of a given Quarterly Review. This one I was thinking of adding more days to get more stuff in ahead of year-end coverage coming up in December. I don’t know what that would do to my weekend — actually, yes I do — but sometimes it’s worth it. I’m yet undecided. Will let you know tomorrow, or perhaps not. Dork of mystery, I am.

Today is PACKED with cool sounds. If you haven’t found something yet that’s really hit you, it might be your day.

Quarterly Review #31-40:

Tortuga, Iterations

TORTUGA Iterations

From traditionalist proto-doom and keyboard-inflected prog to psychedelic jamming and the Mountain-style start-stop riff on “Lilith,” Poznań, Poland’s Tortuga follow 2020’s Deities (discussed here) with seven tracks and 45 minutes that come across as simple and barebones in the distortion of the guitar and the light reverb on the vocals, but the doom rock doesn’t carry from “Lilith” into “Laspes,” which has more of a ’60s psych crux, a mellow but not unjoyful meander in its first half turning to a massive lumber in the second, all the more elephantine with a solo overtop. They continue throughout to cross the lines between niches — “Quaus” has some dungeon growls, “Epitaph” slogs emotive like Pallbearer, etc. — and offer finely detailed performances in a sound malleable to suit the purposes of their songs. Polish heavy doesn’t screw around. Well, at least not any more than it wants to. Tortuga‘s creative reach becomes part of the character of the album.

Tortuga on Facebook

Napalm Records website

Spidergawd, VII

spidergawd vii

I’m sorry, I gotta ask: What’s the point of anything when Spidergawd can put out a record like VII and it’s business as usual? Like, the world doesn’t stop for a collective “holy shit” moment. Even in the heavy underground, never mind general population. These are the kinds of songs that could save lives if properly employed to do so, and for the Norwegian outfit, it’s just what they do. The careening hooks of “Sands of Time” and “The Tower” at the start, the melodies across the span. The energy. I guess this is dad rock? Shit man, I’m a dad. I’m not this cool. Spidergawd have seven records out and I feel like Metallica should’ve been opening for them at stadiums this past summer, but they remain criminally underrated and perhaps use that as flexibility around their pop-heavy foundation to explore new ideas. The last three songs on VII — “Afterburner,” “Your Heritage” and “…And Nothing But the Truth” — are among the strongest and broadest Spidergawd have ever done, and “Dinosaur” and the classic-metal ripper “Bored to Death” give them due preface. One of the best active heavy rock bands, living up to and surpassing their own high standards.

Spidergawd on Facebook

Stickman Records website

Crispin Glover Records website

Morag Tong, Grieve

Morag Tong Grieve

Rumbling low end and spacious guitar, slow flowing drums and contemplative vocals, and some charred sludge for good measure, mark out the procession of “At First Light” on Morag Tong‘s third album and first for Majestic Mountain Records, the four-song Grieve. Moving from that initial encapsulation through the raw-throat sludge thud of most of “Passages,” they crash out and give over to quiet guitar at about four minutes in and set up the transition to the low-end groove-cool of “A Stem’s Embrace,” a sleepy fluidity hitting its full voluminous crux after three minutes in, crushing from there en route to its noisy finish at just over nine minutes long. That would be the epic finisher of most records, but Morag Tong‘s grievances extend to the 20-minute “No Sun, No Moon,” which at 20 minutes is a full-length’s progression on its own. At very least the entirety of side B, but more than the actual runtime is the theoretical amount of space covered as the four-piece shift from ambient drone through huge plod and resolve the skyless closer with a crushing delve into post-sludge atmospherics. That’s as fitting an end as one could ask for an offering that so brazenly refuses to follow impulses other than its own.

Morag Tong on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records store

Conny Ochs, Wahn Und Sinn

Conny Ochs Wahn Und Sinn

The nine-song Wahn Und Sinn carries the distinction of being the first full-length from German singer-songwriter Conny Ochs — also known for his work in Ananda Mida and his collaboration with Wino — to be sung in his own language. As a non-German speaker, I won’t pretend that doesn’t change the listening experience, but that’s the idea. Words and melodies in different languages take on corresponding differences in character, and so in addition to appreciating the strings, pianos, acoustic and electric guitars, and, in the case of “Welle,” a bit of static noise in a relatively brief electronic soundscape, hearing Ochs‘ delivery no less emotive for switching languages on the cinematic “Grimassen,” or the lounge drama of “Ding” earlier on, it’s a new side from a veteran figure whose “experimentalism” — and no, I’m not talking about singing in your own language as experimental, I’m talking about Trialogos there — is backburnered in favor of more traditional, still rampantly melancholy pop arrangements. It sounds like someone who’s decided they can do whatever the hell they feel like their songs should making that a reality. Only an asshole would hold not speaking the language against that.

Conny Ochs on Facebook

Exile on Mainstream website/a>

Ritual King, The Infinite Mirror

ritual king the infinite mirror

I’m going to write this review as though I’m speaking directly to Ritual King because, well, I am. Hey guys. Congrats on the record. I can hear a ton going on with it. Some of Elder‘s bright atmospherics and rhythmic twists, some more familiar stoner riffage repurposed to suit a song like “Worlds Divide” after “Flow State” calls Truckfighters to mind, the songs progressive and melodic. The way you keep that nod in reserve for “Landmass?” That’s what I’m talking about. Here’s some advice you didn’t ask for: Keep going. I’m sure you have big plans for next year, and that’s great, and one thing leads to the next. You’re gonna have people for the next however long telling you what you need to do. Do what feels right to you, and keep in mind the decisions that led you to where you are, because you’re right there, headed to the heart of this thing you’re discovering. Two records deep there’s still a lot of potential in your sound, but I think you know a track like “Tethered” is a victory on its own, and that as big as “The Infinite Mirror” gets at the end, the real chance it takes is in the earlier vocal melody. You’re a better band than people know. Just keep going. Thanks.

Ritual King on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Oldest Sea, A Birdsong, A Ghost

oldest sea a birdsong a ghost cropped

Inhabiting the sort of alternately engulfing and minimal spaces generally occupied by the likes of Bell Witch, New Jersey’s Oldest Sea make their full-length debut with A Birdsong, A Ghost and realize a bleakness of mood that is affecting even in its tempo, seeming to slow the world around it to its own crawl. The duo of Samantha Marandola and Andrew Marandola, who brought forth their Strange and Eternal EP (review here) in 2022, find emotive resonance in a death-doom build through the later reaches of “Untracing,” but the subsequent three-minute-piece-for-chorus-and-distorted-drone “Astronomical Twilight” and the similarly barely-there-until-it-very-much-is closer “Metamorphose” mark out either end of the extremes while “The Machines That Made Us Old” echoes Godflesh in its later riffing as Samantha‘s voice works through screams en route to a daringly hopeful drone. Volatile but controlled, it is a debut of note for its patience and vulnerability as well as its deep-impact crash and consuming tone.

Oldest Sea on Facebook

Darkest Records on Bandcamp

Dim Electrics, Dim Electrics

dim electrics dim electrics

Each track on Dim Electrics‘ self-titled five-songer LP becomes a place to rest for a while. No individual piece is lacking activity, but each cut has room for the listener to get inside and either follow the interweaving aural patterns or zone out as they will. Founded by Mahk Rumbae, the Vienna-based project is meditative in the sense of basking in repetition, but flashes like the organ in the middle of “Saint” or the shimmy that takes hold in 18-minute closer “Dream Reaction” assure it doesn’t reside in one place for too much actual realtime, of which it’s easy to lose track when so much krautgazey flow is at hand. Beginning with ambience, “Ways of Seeing” leads the listener deeper into the aural chasm it seems to have opened, and the swirling echoes around take on a life of their own in the ecosystem of some vision of space rock that’s also happening under the ground — past and future merging as in the mellotron techno of “Memory Cage” — which any fool can tell you is where the good mushrooms grow. Dug-in, immersive, engaging if you let it be; Dim Electrics feels somewhat insular in its mind-expansion, but there’s plenty to go around if you can put yourself in the direction it’s headed.

Dim Electrics on Facebook

Sulatron Records webstore

Mountain of Misery, In Roundness

Mountain of Misery In Roundness

A newcomer project from Kamil Ziółkowski, also known for his contributions as part of Polish heavy forerunners Spaceslug, the tone-forward approach of Mountain of Misery might be said to be informed by Ziółkowski‘s other project in opener “Not Away” or the penultimate “Climb by the Sundown,” with their languid vocals and slow-rolling tsunami fuzz in the spirit of heavy psych purveyors Colour Haze and even more to the point Sungrazer, but the howling guitar in the crescendo of closer “The Misery” and the all-out assault of “Hang So Low” distinguish the band all around. “The Rain is My Love” sways in the album’s middle, but it’s in “Circle in Roundness” that the 36-minute LP has its most subdued stretch, letting the spaces filled with fuzz elsewhere remain open as the verse builds atop the for-now-drumless expanse. Whatever familiar aspects persist, Mountain of Misery is its own band, and In Roundness is the exciting beginning of a new creative evolution.

Mountain of Misery on Facebook

Electric Witch Mountain Recordings on Facebook

Aawks, Luna

aawks luna

The featured new single, “The Figure,” finds Barrie, Ontario’s Aawks somewhere between Canadian tonal lords Sons of Otis and the dense heavy psych riffing and melodic vocals of an act like Snail, and if you think I’m about to complain about that, you’ve very clearly never been to this site before. So hi, and welcome. The four-song Luna EP is Aawks‘ second short release of 2023 behind a split with Aiwass (review here), and the trio take on Flock of Seagulls and Pink Floyd for covers of the new wave radio hit “I Ran” and the psychedelic ur-classic “Julia Dream” before a live track, “All is Fine,” rounds out. As someone who’s never seen the band live, the additional crunch falls organic, and brings into relief the diversity Aawks show in and between these four songs, each of which inhabits a place in the emerging whole of the band’s persona. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but sign me up for the Canadian heavy revolution if this is the form it’s going to take.

Aawks on Facebook

Black Throne Productions website

Kaliyuga Express, Warriors & Masters

Kaliyuga Express Warriors and Masters

The collaborative oeuvre of UK doomsperimental guitarist Mike Vest (Bong, Blown Out, Ozo, 11Paranoias, etc.) grows richer as he joins forces with Finnish trio Nolla to produce Kaliyuga ExpressWarriors & Masters, which results in three tracks across two sides of far-out cosmic fuzz, shades of classic kraut and space rocks are wrought with jammy intention; the goal seeming to be the going more than the being gone as Vest and company burn through “Nightmare Dimensions” and the shoegazing “Behind the Veil” — the presence of vocals throughout is a distinguishing feature — hums in high and low frequencies in a repetitive inhale of stellar gases on side A while the 18:58 side B showdown “Endless Black Space” misdirects with a minute of cosmic background noise before unfurling itself across an exoplanet’s vision of cool and returning, wait for it, back to the drone from whence it came. Did you know stars are recycled all the time? Did you know that if you drop acid and peel your face off there’s another face underneath? Your third eye is googly. You can hear voices in the drones. Let me know what they tell you.

Kaliyuga Express on Facebook

Riot Season Records store

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Spidergawd Launch Preorders for New LP VII Out Nov. 10; “Sands of Time” Video Posted

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 24th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

spidergawd

Lots of Thin Lizzy, two Rush records, classic rock, heavy rock, grunge, Judas Priest, Aerosmith, big rock sounds like Boston, Dire Straits. More Thin Lizzy. Bruce Springsteen. Mob Rules. At the beginning of the video for “Sands of Time,” some of the members of Spidergawd are asked for the recipe that makes a record labeled ‘testpress’ that is presumably a copy of the band’s forthcoming album, VII, which is up for preorder now and out Nov. 10 on Crispin Glover Records and Stickman Records. It’s not an easy formula, but she ends up with a stack of records and there’s a twist ending that I won’t spoil for you.

I’m late on the news of the release and the video — it’s been a rough couple weeks; I do my best — but preorders I think are a recent advent, and that was what came through in the Stickman Records newsletter, which I know I’ve recommended before that you sign up because that label’s roster is absolutely vibrant and always has something cool going (Elder, King Buffalo, Temple Fang, Iron Jinn, Slomosa, Weedpecker, new offshoots like Weite or Full Earth, etc.) either in collaboration with anther label, as is the case here, or on their own. So yeah, here I am repeating myself: they don’t spam and it’s useful info. Plus, at least compared to my ass, you’d be ahead of the game. Some of this came from that, some came from Spidergawd‘s socials, and the video credits come from the video. All about sourcing lately, I guess.

Info, links, video — oh, and because it’s Spidergawd, there’s an entire slew of tour dates as well — follow here:

spidergawd vii

Spidergawd – VII On presale now – out November 10

Spidergawd have revealed their new full length coinciding with the band’s 10th anniversary. What’s changed over the years? As the band puts it themselves, “they have found THE recipe for what Spidergawd is all about.”

VII is an album full of tracks which are catchier, and indeed to a degree poppier, than ever before. Yet this element is matched by a significantly more “real” approach in production, which the band describes as “muddier, messier and bigger: everything that spidergawd vii tourtakes the listener closer to what’s going down on stage in a live Spidergawd performance.”

VII is available as a deluxe package including colored vinyl, a CD, a one-sided 7″ with etching and poster! We have two different color variants available.

1st edition 180gr LTD Hyacinth & Red/Black Vinyl w/ bonus one-sided etched 7″ + CD + Poster!

Follow links below(#128071#)

(#128293#)Norway / WW:
Hyacinth: https://bit.ly/SGVIIhyacinthVinyl
Red/Black: https://bit.ly/SGVIIredandblackVinyl

(#128293#)Germany / EU / WW:
Hyacinth & Red/Black: https://bit.ly/SGVIIStickmanVinylPresale

(#128293#)Pre-save on all streaming platforms:
https://bfan.link/vii

(#128293#)Do check out our whole release tour & tickets here:
linktr.ee/spidergawd

Tracklisting:
1. Sands Of Time
2. The Tower
3. Dinosaur
4. Bored To Death
5. Your Heritage
6. Afterburner
7. Anchor Song
8. …And Nothing But The Truth

Music video by Finn Walther Film
Camera: Bjørn Ante
Crispin Glover Record Shop
Behind the counter: Ida Vie & Torgeir Lund
Bulgarian Knutsen: Øystein Dolmen
Little girl: Elina
Music by Spidergawd
(Spidergawd VII Album release 10.november 2023 – Crispin Glover Records / Stickman Records)

https://www.facebook.com/spidergawd/
https://www.instagram.com/spidergawdofficial/
http://www.spidergawd.no/
https://linktr.ee/spidergawd

http://www.stickman-records.com/
http://stickmanrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940/

http://facebook.com/crispingloverrecords
https://www.instagram.com/crispin_glover_records/
https://cgrshop.com/

Spidergawd, “Sands of Time” official video

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jeff Irwin of Will Haven

Posted in Questionnaire on August 25th, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Jeff Irwin of Will Haven

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jeff Irwin of Will Haven

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I define what I do as just an artist first and foremost, I play drums and guitar but never took lessons, I wanted to learn on my own and create my own artistic stylings, I loved the challenge of it, this goes the same with writing music for my band will haven, I had a lot of influences but wanted to create my own twist on things and come up with something new, pushing the envelope on my own terms is what I have always set out to do, not into the status quo

Describe your first musical memory.

I have a couple that moved me into wanting to be a part of music and not just a listener, the first was hearing Micheal Jackson Off the Wall, I remember hearing that as a little kid and the music on that whole record just moved me, the melodies were so catchy and that’s when music made sense, then when I first heard Motley Crue Too Fast For Love I knew I wanted to play that kind of music, then I got to see them live when I was 12 and thought, yep I want to play on stage one day just like that, those are the ones that set me in motion

Describe your best musical memory to date.

As per the last question, seeing Motley Crue at 12 was bigger than life to me, I wanted to be a rockstar after that, then seeing Pink Floyd when I was 13 was another moment that changed my life forever, Personally when my band got to tour with the band Deftones and we played two sold out nights at the Astoria Theatre in London, England, to play that legendary place and the energy of those shows were the most unreal moments I have ever had playing in a band or in life in general

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

To be honest I don’t know if I have concrete beliefs, I do believe in love but outside of that I have no idea what is real and what is not, life is an ongoing journey of wondering, why am I here? What am I doing? What is reality? What is not? I don’t think I will ever know the answers to that, maybe in the next realm it will make sense but this lifetime it’s all just trying to figure stuff out, I do believe there is something that creates energy and life but I do not know what that is, so life in itself is one big test, you will have good times and bad and to if you truly believe in something directing you you might get let down, so I just let life move fluently and learn from it and accept it’s just part of the plan of living.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I believe it leads to pure happiness, as an artist you always want to push yourself, to create something better than the last, The challenge can be so much fun, to be able to open your brain and use it and be free of anything else, it’s a blessing to have that use of the brain to create, to keep progressing and create something you love is a feeling that is unmatched, pure joy and happiness,

How do you define success?

Success to me is if you look back at your resume and see what you created, if you can look back at your catalogue of work and be completely happy with it then that is more than anything, money, fame does not stand the test of time, your music or art does, so if you know that you are leaving art behind that inspired people and will always inspire people that is true success

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

The evil side of humanity, I always thought that if we have one shot at life it should be amazing, we are only here for a very short time and it should be filled with adventure and love and everything that is here for us to survive, but deep down there is a part of humanity that believes in greed and torture and taking advantage of others, It makes you think what kind of place is this that creates such evil intentions for a life that is so short, Seeing that has definitely made me question the pureness of humanity when I shouldn’t have to

What is something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create?

I am always reaching for that perfect song, that song that can bring up every emotion the human body has, to make that song where one second you are angry, then sad, then you are at complete peace by then end, the song that takes you on a insane journey of every aspect of life, I am always searching for that, I don’t know if I ever will be able to do it but I will keep trying to figure it out

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

to move people, I know some artist create just for themselves which is awesome, but to share your art with people and have them feel it, it creates an amazing energy, to connect with people that you would never normally connect with is amazing, to have a common bond with someone, its that life is all about, sharing energy and coming together as a whole, music is very powerful, its vibrations that connect with others that only you as the artist can put out, it’s a pretty amazing feeling bringing people together, but in a good way

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

moving onto my next chapter of life, spending it with the people I love, looking back at all the amazing things I have done and creating more, moving to a new place and starting new adventures there, all I know is that life is just a dream…..

https://www.facebook.com/willhavenband
https://www.instagram.com/willhavenband
https://willhaven.bandcamp.com
https://linktr.ee/willhavenVII

https://minushead.com
https://www.facebook.com/music4yourHEAD
https://www.instagram.com/minusheadrecords
https://minusheadrecords.bandcamp.com

Will Haven, VII (2023)

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The Kings of Frog Island Post Full-Show Live Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

the kings of frog island

So let’s talk about The Kings of Frog Island for a minute. The Leicester, UK-based four-piece heavy psychedelic wander-rockers released their aptly-titled seventh album, VII (review here), last year in a continuing alliance with Kozmik Artifactz, having persisted through working remotely outside of their usual practice space/recording studio/hangout spot in order to make it during pandemic lockdown. Watching them perform some of that material and older songs from prior albums, I can’t help but think of the passage of time.

It’s been 17 years since The Kings of Frog Island put out their self-titled debut on Elektrohasch Schallplatten, which like the subsequent two albums was fronted by Mathew Bethancourt of Josiah. With the lineup of Mark Buteaux, Gavin Searle, Lee Madel-Toner and Jim Robinson, the band continues to move forward, and VII, like each new subsequent offering they make, blends casual, off-the-cuff-sounding jams and psychedelics with more solidified heavy rock and roll impulses. They sneak hooks in, man. “Summer Sun,” which appears in this set, is a perfect example.

To bottom-line it, I’ve been listening to this band for more than a decade and a half — I remember when the first record came in the mail — and I’ve never had the chance to see them. I hum these songs throughout the day (especially after watching the clip) and though they’ve never toured and don’t really play out, their music still resonates. Watching this full set, their if-you-kn0w-you-know vibe is right on where you’d want it to be, and the show feels more like a party than a gig, which it may well have been and which I’d hope that, if I was ever so lucky as to encounter them live, any such experience might be.

I’m not thinking of this as a ‘premiere’ or anything like that, but I don’t think this set is public yet otherwise, so if you want to call it one, that’s fine. More important to me is to post about a band I’ve dug for a long time and maybe catch a glimpse of what I’ve been missing all that while. Seems pretty straightforward, so all the better that the music itself isn’t shy about meandering here and there.

As always, I hope you enjoy:

The Kings of Frog Island, Live at Soundhouse, Leicester, UK, 10.02.21

The Kings of Frog Island: Live at Soundhouse Leicester 2nd October 2021

The gig was postponed due to lockdown in Leicester. We were about to start rehearsal the same week lockdown started. March 2020.

As we couldn’t meet we made VII almost entirely remotely, by sending files back and forth, sometimes with comical results. Mainly vox starting in the wrong place.

When we were allowed to meet, restrictions allowed up to 6 people outside so rehearsal started in our gardens. Videos on YouTube channel.

Stayfree opened just 6 weeks before the gig, which didn’t give us long to prepare. However we have been playing together for years and this comes across in this video.

We love our studio but every now and again we do something live locally and it usually has a party atmosphere. Looking to do another October 2022.

Psychedelic Space Rock, Stoner, Doom, Ambient and Drop Tuned Rock.

Recorded at Soundhouse by Keith Johnstone

The Kings of Frog Island are:
Mark Buteux
Gavin Searle
Lee Madel-Toner
Jim Robinson

The Kings of Frog Island on Facebook

The Kings of Frog Island on YouTube

The Kings of Frog Island on CDBaby

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Facebook

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Review & Video Premiere: The Kings of Frog Island, VII

Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on June 29th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

THE KINGS OF FROG ISLAND VII

[Click play above to stream the premiere of The Kings of Frog Island’s video for ‘Beyond the Void.’ New album VII is out July 30 on Kozmik Artifactz.]

It was some 13 standard earth years ago that The Kings of Frog Island issued their “Welcome to the Void” on their second album, 2008’s II (discussed here), and now, with VII, they willfully go beyond. “Beyond the Void” leads off the Leicester, UK, outfit’s new collection, VII, a stirring 10-track offering that seems to make the listener the beneficiary of a surge in productivity on the part of the band. That is to say, it was six years between 2014’s V (review here) and the release of VI (review here) in 2020, and now, less than a year later, guitarist Mark Buteux, vocalist Gavin Searle, bassist Lee Madel-Toner, drummer Roger “Dodge” Watson — plus Gavin William WrightTony Heslop and Neve Buteux — have turned around a follow-up, comprising 47 minutes of sungazing, mellow-heavy psychedelia and fuzz, melodic, unpretentious, dug in and of a style the band have now worked over the last few years to establish as their own that pulls together the various sides of their now 18-year trajectory.

The key seems to have been the band launching their own studio in Amphibia Sound Studios IV, which not only has allowed them to record more, since they’re the ones doing it and thus less subject to schedules, etc., but also to build their songs in a different way. No doubt this process was upset by the covid-19 pandemic in some way over the course of the last 15 months — easy to speculate, since everything was — but The Kings of Frog Island still sound very much like themselves, and that distinction is important because it encompasses both the catchy, straightforward underlying structure of “Blackened Soul,” the drifting post-grunge of “Dopamine” and the psych blues minimalist try-it-and-see-how-it-goes experimentalism of “SuperEgo.” Though not without a darker moment in “Empire” on side B, VII speaks of the sunshine on three tracks in a row with “Blackened Soul,” “Summer Sun” and “Dopamine,” and even “Rain” talks about stepping into the light — its hook line being, “So get out of the rain.” The penultimate “Five Hours” does its part to “hold onto the summer” as well and assures, “it’ll be alright.”

In context, it’s easy to read this as psychedelic escapism on the part of the band, and if that’s the case, it works just as fluidly for the listener. While “Beyond the Void” sets up elements like the backing vocals behind Searle and the Revolver-in-an-alternate-reality-dance-hall groove that accompanies, it’s the interplay between that track and “All the King’s Horses” immediately following that gives the audience more of a clue as to the scope of The Kings of Frog Island at this stage in their career. For the better part of two decades and across seven records of various shifts in personnel and craft, the band has worked to find a way to carry those hearing their songs along the current of the material in the manner they make sound so natural here, blending the ethereality of “All the King’s Horses” with the harder fuzz of “The Silver Arrow” while retaining a consistent identity between them. This isn’t just about tones or melodies, but the production style and the manner in which parts are layered as well. This development of the studio space as a part of the character of the group as a whole, it comes through in the material in a way that it couldn’t have before Amphibia Sound IV, and it’s helped The Kings of Frog Island to find their multi-pronged path and to walk it in kind.

the kings of frog island

“Beyond the Void” (6:12), “Empire” (5:36) and “SuperEgo” (7:43) are the only tracks on VII that top five minutes long — though “All the King’s Horses” and “Blackened Soul” come close — and though that’s more than appeared on VI, that prior album also had 10 tracks and three of them under four minutes, where VII has four. Does that speak of a burgeoning divergence between longer songs and shorter in The Kings of Frog Island‘s approach? I’ve no idea, and I don’t think it’s a question that can be answered at this point. VI was put together over a series of years, and for all I know, VII might have been sculpted out of the same ongoing sessions, but as an album, it presents as being markedly cogent in its purposes, whether a given song works fast or slow, loud or quiet. The atmosphere and mood of “Empire,” or how the song descends into its fade ahead of the burst-to-life at the start of “The Silver Arrow,” isn’t to be taken for granted. They are far from the ’90s-style, handclap-inclusive Britpsych of “Summer Sun” at that point, or even the warm rumble of “Blackened Soul,” but the easy sway of “Five Hours” helps ease the transition into “SuperEgo,” and the breadth and subtlety of that final build is a marked achievement that underlines the songwriting at work throughout the album preceding it.

I see no reason to mince words or deny that I have been and remain a fan of The Kings of Frog Island‘s output over the better part of the last two decades. What VII does is add to their list of accomplishments, push further their creative style and make it that much easier for the listener — whether a fan of long-standing or not — to roll where they roll. You don’t have to know “Welcome to the Void” to go “Beyond the Void,” and through “Blackened Soul” and “Summer Sun” and “Dopamine” and “Rain” and “Five Hours” and really the whole thing, the prevalence of vibe in their material not only stems from the depth of the mix — the way the vocals are blown out on top of “Blackened Soul” or the slow-motion scorch of the lead guitar in “Empire” — but from the essence of the songs themselves. I’m not sure “exciting” is the right thing to call a release that spends so much of its time basking in psychedelic serenity, but VII is that, just the same, and each song is an invitation to the audience to join the band on this journey into the moment. They make it a pleasure to go.

The Kings of Frog Island, “Summer Sun” official video

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