psychedelic rock / blues
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Today, the plan was to start another edition of Brieviews for Merchants Of Air. You know, working my way through the pile. After I'd written a few, I came across this strange little thing, sent to me by J. Kill & Mr. Mule, who apparently is a member of this band. It was presented as psychedelic blues rock with a focus on hazy improvisations. Since I had been listening to a lot of heavy stuff already, I needed something different, something calm and soothing. So I pressed play, opened my review template and just started writing.
The album opens with a long track which holds the middle between blues and post rock. One long immersive piece of psychedelic rock follows, one which somewhat feels like a massive jamsession between Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and possibly some of their colleagues. When the vocals appear, I'm immediately imagining how awesome Woodstock must have been. With that, I mean that this whole thing sounds like a live recording from back in the days, which isn't perfect but certainly has its charm.
'Valkoinen Vuori' drags the whole thing deeper into the regions of blues and jazz, leaving the psychedelic approach behind for a while. This is a strange, somewhat eerie ballad but nonetheless an interesting one, showing the versatility of these improvisations. On other occasions, as in 'Toteemi', the band shows a bit more of their experimental style. In this one, I even recognize a touch of vintage doom metal. Earth comes to mind, so does Om and several other acts.
Yet, even though there are plenty of bands to be compared with, I feel like this is mostly a joyous and successful result of an intense series of jam sessions by a bunch of likeminded musicians. As far as I'm concerned, these guys can come to Belgium and play this kind of stuff in a local venue here anytime. It'd be awesome to listen to them jamming while enjoying a beer. My advice; check it out, you just might rediscover the sheer joy of making music.
​Serge
The album opens with a long track which holds the middle between blues and post rock. One long immersive piece of psychedelic rock follows, one which somewhat feels like a massive jamsession between Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and possibly some of their colleagues. When the vocals appear, I'm immediately imagining how awesome Woodstock must have been. With that, I mean that this whole thing sounds like a live recording from back in the days, which isn't perfect but certainly has its charm.
'Valkoinen Vuori' drags the whole thing deeper into the regions of blues and jazz, leaving the psychedelic approach behind for a while. This is a strange, somewhat eerie ballad but nonetheless an interesting one, showing the versatility of these improvisations. On other occasions, as in 'Toteemi', the band shows a bit more of their experimental style. In this one, I even recognize a touch of vintage doom metal. Earth comes to mind, so does Om and several other acts.
Yet, even though there are plenty of bands to be compared with, I feel like this is mostly a joyous and successful result of an intense series of jam sessions by a bunch of likeminded musicians. As far as I'm concerned, these guys can come to Belgium and play this kind of stuff in a local venue here anytime. It'd be awesome to listen to them jamming while enjoying a beer. My advice; check it out, you just might rediscover the sheer joy of making music.
​Serge
