This has been kicking around our psychedelic basement for a couple of months now………it took a while for us to “get it” but now we appreciate the subtleties of this record we have it on almost permanent repeat. Fronted by powerhouse bluesy/jazzy vocalist Anita Formilan, Italian Psych Pop band Mother Island are a strange 60s throwback……………a Garage band fronted by a Blues singer. If we were really lazy we would describe the band as “Amy Winehouse fronting The Doors” but they are far more nuanced than that.
Following their excellent debut Cosmic Pyre, Mother Island's second album, Wet Moon, marks a turning point in the band's approach to sound and pop compositions. It alternates between ballads and dark and Psychedelic moments, like the cathartic and liberating 'La Danse Macabre'. Blending ’60s California and Texas with the region's latter day rebels (The Allah-Las, The Growlers, The Black Angels) the female led act (think Grace Slick meets Mariska Veres topped off with some latter day doom akin to Lola Colt's Gun) create a heady new Psych Sound. The voice of Anita Formilan exorcises demons and ghosts ala The Velvet Underground and The Doors, but the sound that comes out is warm and enveloping, alluring and sensual. Produced by Matt Bordin (Squadra Omega / The Mojomatics), who has made use only of analogue instruments and a Studer 24-track recorder, the album brims with vintage keys, jangle and reverb. There are some really cool tracks on this record……….stand outs have to be the reverb soaked, dark gothic ‘Twentynine Psalms’, the swirling Doorsy ‘Normal Love’ and the excellent Psych Pop tune ‘On Days Like This’ that may have turned up on Back To Black if it been informed by hallucinogens and not booze and skag. Excellent record and well worth checking out if you dig Lola Colt’s wide screen Psych Rock.
Out NOW on Go Down Records, Wet Moon is available on LP and CD from their on-line store and most cool record stores. The digital download can be purchased from the band’s Bandcamp site here
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