Er……..wow!.......after
a recording career spanning over 25 years, Chicago’s psychedelic elder
statesmen The Luck of Eden Hall have surpassed any of their previous records
and have come up with an album, The Acceleration Of Time, which must be
regarded as their finest to date. Falling somewhere between early 70s Prog Rock
and full blown headswirling Psychedelic Rock, this record really should carry
some kind of warning……… exposure to TLoEH’s sprawling double album masterpiece
will most certainly lead to a seriously blown mind. Mixing up authentic vintage
sounds (there is an absolute ton of lush, sweeping Mellotron on this record)
with a modern Psych Rock sheen TLoEH have crafted a very Proggy wide screen
vista with plenty of off kilter psychedelic moments that both “Classic Rock”
purists and wild eyed psychonauts will love to bits…………it’s Yes, mid-period
Floyd, King Crimson etc. etc. stripped of any pretentious musical over
indulgence with an abundance of added kick-ass Rock ‘n’ Roll attitude.
It’s about
time…….The Luck Of Eden Hall’s vaguely conceptual new record charting how time
appears to speed up during the passing of the years opens with ‘Slow’, a peel
of chiming/ticking clocks leading into a squall of swirling guitar and dreamy
keyboard swell which sounds not unlike a third cousin, twice removed, of the
lead track from the Dukes Of Stratosphear’s seminal mid 80s 25 O’Clock EP. One
thing you really notice with this record compared to previous TLoEH albums is
that keyboards are far more prominent than before…………The Acceleration Of Time
is full of old school analogue keyboards sounds which give the tunes greater
depth and texture, from bubbling synths intertwining with soaring guitar to
gorgeous Mellotron washes which come to the fore on the epic Prog Rock inspired
instrumentals on this album. ‘A Procession Of Marshmallow Soldiers Across The
Clockwork Pudding’ is a classic 70s Prog/Psych style instrumental where synths
and guitars twist around each other in a spiralling mad dance while ‘Channel 50
Creature Feature’ is a near 10 minutes of gently drifting, Floyd-esque alien
soundscaping interspersed with bursts of furious guitar noise. This is possibly
the most sonically adventurous and expansive album that TLoEH have recorded, another
long instrumental track, the absolutely stunningly atmospheric ‘White Caps In
The Wind’, where totally beautiful sweeping Mellotron wash combines with
wonderfully understated guitar playing for that perfect headphone moment, allows the band to stretch out and explore the dynamics of the tune and they
are not afraid to get their weird on with ‘You Asked About Water On Mars’ TLoEH
adding a strange little Wendy/Walter Carlos Clockwork Orange/Switched On Bach
interlude into what is effectively a mad 70s Glam stomper………as well as fitting
into the theme of the record, a bit of a Bowie tribute maybe?????
Those of you
already familiar with The Luck of Eden Hall will instantly recognise the
overdriven crunching guitars and solid backbeat of ‘Blown To Kingdom Come’………..as
well as wide screen, panoramic 70s Progressive Rock inspired tunes, The
Acceleration Of Time also has more than its fair share of grandiose Psychedelic
Rock tunes that TLoEH are known for which combines the Power Pop sugar rush of
bands like the Raspberries with the twisted psychedelia of the 60s, with tracks
like ‘The Happiness Vending Machine’ coming on like Cheap Trick on a drug
bender. This is a seriously impressive record full of dark and shade but also massively
uplifting………..by spreading over four sides of vinyl TLoEH have taken the
opportunity to use this extended canvas to really expand sonically, from the
symphonic thrash of ‘Another High Speed Blowout’ through the beautifully lush ‘Arthropoda
Lepidoptera’ and ‘Only Robots Can Search The Deep Ocean Floor’ to the gentle
psychedelia of ‘The Saints Are Quiet Above Us’ they show what can be achieved
in the studio with great ideas, a fair bit of dedication and expert musical
chops…………….God, we wish that all Prog/Psych albums were like this, however
TLoEH seem to have an edge on many younger bands through their greater depth of
musical knowledge and life experience……….let’s say that a bit more………er……..’maturity’
will always trump a shelf full of Harry Potter books and Muse albums when you are putting an
album together about the progression of time. This truly remarkable album
closes with the wigged out ‘A Man Of Conservative Style’ where TLoEH throw in
the psychedelic kitchen sink adding layers of strange to an already berserk
Psychedelic Pop number………you really need to check this record. The Luck of Eden
Hall may have single-handedly fully restored the tarnished reputation of the
concept album with this latest release…………it’s like Tales Of Topographic Oceans
never happened (how we wish that was true). It’s only May but we think we have
found our favorite record of 2016. The bar has been set incredibly high and it’s
going to take a work of near genius for us to change our minds.
The
Acceleration Of Time is due for release on June 1st and is available
in several formats to pre-order now. The limited edition of 500 2 x vinyl version
is released on the Dutch label Headspin Records and is available to order via
Clear Spot, the usual reputable outlets and The Luck of Eden Hall’s Bandcamp
page https://theluckofedenhall.bandcamp.com/.
It comes in two versions………250 copies on white vinyl and for those of you that
think coloured vinyl records don’t sound very good there are 250 copies
available on black vinyl.
Along with a
regular CD release, there is a limited edition of 100 CDs with hand crafted
pop-up cover available from TLoEH Bandcamp page where you can also purchase the
digital download. Keep ‘em peeled for further TLoEH releases this year……..a single
‘The End of The Lane’ (a song inspired by Neil Gaiman's book Ocean at The End
of The Lane, with original cover art by Mr. Gaiman himself) will be available
as part of the Mega Dodo Records Singles Club and TLoEH Live At The Cromlech
will be out on Fruits de Mer Records sometime soon…….Dig it People.
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