An unexpected, nice surprise dropped into the STRANGE
THINGS ARE HAPPENING in box the other day, a very cool three tracker from Turin
based psych pop/shoegaze influenced outfit THE YELLOW TRAFFIC LIGHT. Their
first EP ‘Dreamless’ is a glorious mix of groovy Byrdsian jangle pop and swirly
psychedelia which is well worth your attention if you are a fan of Temples and
Tame Impala. The lead track ‘April’ is a wonderful slice of psych tinged
sunshine pop and the other two tracks ain’t half bad either. Brimming with
chiming guitars, both ‘Care’ and ‘Do It Right’ are great psych pop tunes that
are as good as anything we have heard so far this year.
THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN
This is the first full album
from SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS AKA multi-Instrumentalist Gavin Lloyd Wilson. Taking
inspiration from the area around his home in south west Wales, Portraits Of A
Landscape is predominantly instrumental and split into two distinctive sections,
one being shaped by the industrial landscape of south Wales, the second being
influenced by the countryside that surrounds it.
The first section is titled
‘The Industrial Landscape’ and it is essentially minimal industrial soundscapes
mixed with more up tempo krautrock influenced tracks. There are some
interesting ideas here but nothing really special…….if you like the stranger
end of Mute Records or the releases from Ghost Box there may be something here
for you. However the more psychedelic second section of Portraits Of A
Landscape is superb and would work as a brilliant standalone EP regardless. Titled
‘In Harmony With Nature’, there are four tracks that combine sitar drones,
soaring EBow guitars, sweeping synths, minimal electronics and found
sounds/field recordings to excellent effect moving the record towards the more
experimental/ambient sounds of Fripp & Eno, Michael Brook and many of the
artists on the Portland based Darkwave, Ambient and Shoegaze label ProjektRecords. Built on a foundation of drones and tablas, sounding like a
psychedelicized Bat For Lashes, ‘Under The Same Stars’ features singer/composer
GHOST DUST (one of the guises of Jasmine Eden, currently making music as THISTLE THISTLES) while two tracks heavily influenced by kosmische musik ‘The Parrog’ and ‘Glacial Express Way’ merge
together as a 10 minutes of sweeping synths, swirling EBow guitars and sparse
percussion. The final track on the album, ‘Poppit’, is a beautiful piece of
music which brings to mind the late Gravenhurst’s more experimental excursions………underneath
slight, eastern-flavoured guitar picking runs a field recording of waves
lapping upon the shore.
This is a promising full debut from SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS and
worth checking out if only for the more psych tinged, ambient/cosmic side of
Portraits Of A Landscape…….play the last four tracks either stupid loud or
listen to them on headphones, they sound great. Available as either a CD or
Download from the SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS Bandcamp page….Check it out here https://spurioustransients.bandcamp.com
THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN
