Welcome - Sirs [Fat Cat Records - 2006]Welcomes debut feels like if you had a big white bowl and mixed in: Syd Barrett’s take on Pink Floyd, all manner of late 60’s psychedelic pop rock, The velvet underground’s sensibility to more churning avant guitar work, and The Pixies one of there more rough and ready days. All squeezed toothpaste like into your mind- a mix of juddering off angle guitars, quirky/ wonky harmonies, and songs that threaten to fall apart beneath you, like a trap door leading down a multicoloured Helter Skelter. The thing that makes this more charming and inviting is it’s rough edges- songs judder to a stop, track suddenly start, forwards and backwards orchestral samples jump at you as if they’ve been slice from the Beatles back catalogue and abused a bit then thrown into the mix, elements stop and start seemly randomly, vocals feed though echo chambers, etc. It comes off feeling like an overdose of day glow sweets and creaking cardboard psychedelic back drops. They nicely mix haphazard female and male vocals, giving the album different vocal flavours. The songs only lasting around the two to four minute mark each, which gives the feeling of quick sweet slides down sugar corroding liquorice slides or head spining candy roundabout rides. It’s all topped off with wonderful obscure and not making much sense tripped out lyrics, that sudden become clear dropping acid tinged imagery in your mind. One of the sugar rush guitared-up psychedelic treats of the year. Only lasting just over the half amour mark, but they managed to cram in all manner of fun, frolics and day colour musically trips. You’ve really got to dig these guys man! Roger Batty
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