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Spread the Social Love:
The Welsh seem to have a handle on psychedelia, It's a weird phenomenon, from 90's acid psych indie of Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci to emerging Welsh psych-folk darling Cate Le Bon and a large explosion in fresh faced wonky-rock bands like Race Horses and El Goodo. Add to that list Anglo-Welsh-American psych-poppers Howl Griff.
This quartet (comprising of Hywel Griff - lead vocals and guitar. Gary Parkinson - guitar and backing vocals. Steve Kennedy - bass and backing vocals and Nick Moore - drums and percussion) return with their third long player, Fragile Diamond, a 12 track digital dream of all the Welsh seem to excel in i.e. off kilter slanted blues rock and pysch-pop. So lets dive in!
'You Don't Have to Leave on Your Own' welcomes us in with distorted fuzzed up riffs merging into classic blues rock with Hywel's vocal tone taking on a glam rock twist, a tone that is needed and truly deserving of the album's namesake 'Fragile Diamond', which follows closely behind displaying their influences prominently with harmonies steeped in mid 70's pop-rock.
'Sharkfins in the Sky' ups the tempo with funky drumming any early 90's baggy-indie throwback would adore (and I do), distorted riffs and vocal 'ooh oohs' are thrown in too, all to brilliant effect. So far so good then, uh-oh what's this? Around the corner comes folk in the shape of 'Radio Revolution', thankfully though it is not your average Arran sweater wearing, Celtic drum banging beardedness. Instead we have Griff's take on folk, acid tinged 60's pop folk and if that isn't a genre it should be.
'Runaround' gets back to the meaty rock and fuzzy potatoes with a lovely bit of Bowie-esque strutting too (always a winner in this listeners opinion). Track no. 6 of the 12 'Meet My Maker' eases in with suppressed semi acoustic plucking and Hywel setting the songs lyrical scene of going blind while driving on a motorway fast lane, yes you read that right. In fact a good portion of the albums lyrics are based on real life events of some type. The song sees the instruments layered upon one another to form a gorgeous noise in the final minutes.'Puppet Operation Time' has wonky warped pop sea shanty lilt, a foot tapping jangly ditty with vocal harmonies thrown in there for good measure. Never fear if you like your tunes with a bit more vim and vigour however, as 'She Walks By the Flame' kicks up the dust with a classic blues riff and those vocal harmonies, the lyrics take a back seat here, but who cares when you get a pithy solo halfway through.
'Rose of Emily' brings the plains of Midwest USA to the Welsh valleys, a cowboy country stomper that when analysed on paper would be an absolutely fruitcake mental idea for a song, but, and I'm not sure how, the guys pull it off with aplomb!'FüßßBÜKKËR' is not only a blinding title for any song, but also blindingly brilliant in its Syd Barret era Pink Floyd leanings, a triumphant 3 minutes of psych-pop, simple as that.
So into the penultimate 'International Dateline' which has Griff serenading “...and I'm changing mind, and I'm crossing the line, making the time up to you...” backed by an equally feel good soundtrack. Album closer 'Everything' kicks off with a riff any Led Zep fan could easily mistake for the work of Jimmy Page, backed by a steady pounding drum section, but then goes all lovey dovey Beatles on your arse with lyrics of “...and love changes everything..” then moves swiftly back into the rock stance, but wait, that classic rock warps into acid guitar squalls. The separate parts would hold firm on their own terms but when moulded into that vocal harmonising again it makes for 6 minutes of sunny musical goodness. Which incidentally sums this whole album up. So c'mon and get on the Welsh psych train boyo.
Top Picks:
This quartet (comprising of Hywel Griff - lead vocals and guitar. Gary Parkinson - guitar and backing vocals. Steve Kennedy - bass and backing vocals and Nick Moore - drums and percussion) return with their third long player, Fragile Diamond, a 12 track digital dream of all the Welsh seem to excel in i.e. off kilter slanted blues rock and pysch-pop. So lets dive in!
'You Don't Have to Leave on Your Own' welcomes us in with distorted fuzzed up riffs merging into classic blues rock with Hywel's vocal tone taking on a glam rock twist, a tone that is needed and truly deserving of the album's namesake 'Fragile Diamond', which follows closely behind displaying their influences prominently with harmonies steeped in mid 70's pop-rock.
LISTEN // 'Fragile Diamond'
'Sharkfins in the Sky' ups the tempo with funky drumming any early 90's baggy-indie throwback would adore (and I do), distorted riffs and vocal 'ooh oohs' are thrown in too, all to brilliant effect. So far so good then, uh-oh what's this? Around the corner comes folk in the shape of 'Radio Revolution', thankfully though it is not your average Arran sweater wearing, Celtic drum banging beardedness. Instead we have Griff's take on folk, acid tinged 60's pop folk and if that isn't a genre it should be.
LISTEN // 'Sharkfins in the Sky'
'Runaround' gets back to the meaty rock and fuzzy potatoes with a lovely bit of Bowie-esque strutting too (always a winner in this listeners opinion). Track no. 6 of the 12 'Meet My Maker' eases in with suppressed semi acoustic plucking and Hywel setting the songs lyrical scene of going blind while driving on a motorway fast lane, yes you read that right. In fact a good portion of the albums lyrics are based on real life events of some type. The song sees the instruments layered upon one another to form a gorgeous noise in the final minutes.'Puppet Operation Time' has wonky warped pop sea shanty lilt, a foot tapping jangly ditty with vocal harmonies thrown in there for good measure. Never fear if you like your tunes with a bit more vim and vigour however, as 'She Walks By the Flame' kicks up the dust with a classic blues riff and those vocal harmonies, the lyrics take a back seat here, but who cares when you get a pithy solo halfway through.
'Rose of Emily' brings the plains of Midwest USA to the Welsh valleys, a cowboy country stomper that when analysed on paper would be an absolutely fruitcake mental idea for a song, but, and I'm not sure how, the guys pull it off with aplomb!'FüßßBÜKKËR' is not only a blinding title for any song, but also blindingly brilliant in its Syd Barret era Pink Floyd leanings, a triumphant 3 minutes of psych-pop, simple as that.
LISTEN // 'FüßßBÜKKËR'
So into the penultimate 'International Dateline' which has Griff serenading “...and I'm changing mind, and I'm crossing the line, making the time up to you...” backed by an equally feel good soundtrack. Album closer 'Everything' kicks off with a riff any Led Zep fan could easily mistake for the work of Jimmy Page, backed by a steady pounding drum section, but then goes all lovey dovey Beatles on your arse with lyrics of “...and love changes everything..” then moves swiftly back into the rock stance, but wait, that classic rock warps into acid guitar squalls. The separate parts would hold firm on their own terms but when moulded into that vocal harmonising again it makes for 6 minutes of sunny musical goodness. Which incidentally sums this whole album up. So c'mon and get on the Welsh psych train boyo.
Top Picks:
- Fragile Diamond
- Sharkfins In The Sky
- She Walks By The Flame
- FüßßBÜKKËR
Fragile Diamond is released 15th October
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