Barrett Elmore is not a person. Barrett Elmore is a
4piece creative unit hailing from somewhere in Sweden, formed in 2008. It’s Claes
Mikael Svensson on drums, percussion and backing vocals, Max Karlstrom on bass,
vocals, organ, harmonica, syntheziser, Mikaela Eriksson on vocals, William
Friman on guitar, piano, organ and THEY Love to Play Psychedelic music, to
“clear your mind” as they state. This is their debut album, an album dipped
deeply inside the early progressive 70s, the psychedelic side of Pink Floyd,
the experimental side of Morrison’s Doors, the Swedish folklore. It’s quite
impressive how much creativity and musicianship the Swedish Woods are hiding! Prog
Acid Folk in a natural mystical psychedelic vein! Melancholic but Optimistic.
Dark but Lightly Clear. Old-fashioned but Newly Fresh. Wonderful! Album
consists of 10 songs in a flowing continuous order plus an eleventh, a
12min bonus track. It takes off with “Entrance” (1:55min), which despite
its length is an ideal instrumental beginning that captivates all the woods’
sounds under a haunted organ sound and a distinctive drumming. “The Creek”
(3:16min) is a folkie acoustic dreamy ballad with female fairy vocals. “I See A
Man” (1:30min) gets us deeper into the forest with a steady – but creepy -
rhythm piano sound. Without even noticing we've moved to “The Nixie”
(4:01min), a mystical journey into consciousness with male whispering vocals
starting eerie and transitioning into a trippy heavy guitar sounding
masterpiece. “Drowning” (3:58min) is an acid guitar driven track with much
distorted ala Jim Morrison vocals. “Storm” (4:24min) hits you like a summer
rain inside a forest. It’s an instrumental prog tune starting with backward
sounds adding tremolo fuzzy guitars and a beautiful organ sound. “The
Brook Horse” is another acid-psych tune with
really incomprehensible male vocals. “Lost In A Swamp” (2:25min) is
an imaginary little piece of music with Calliope sounding keyboards that gives
you the feeling of another age, maybe Renaissance. “Dusk (Dance Of The Pixies)”
(4:21min) is another cool gentle ballad, a little more hallucinogenic this
time. Oh those Mushrooms! They’re hiding deep in the woods. But once you find
them… “Woodlands” (3:29min) has wondrous female harmony vocals with a real
moody psychedelic guitar passage that sets you right there, in the middle of
the forest, in a glade that no one else can see, except the listener/traveller.
Album closes with the bonus track “Psilocybe Semilanceata” (12:06min). A
mystical - becoming either hauntingly scary either tranquil at times - epos!
Just imagine the Masters, playing the entire Ummagumma Live at the Pompeii! Wood-e-licious! TimeLord
Michalis
No comments:
Post a Comment