Embedded Files
THE CRYSTAL TEARDROP "...Is Forming"
THE CRYSTAL TEARDROP "...Is Forming"
By Octopi Mills
With a name like this being thrown around one becomes suspicious and curious as to what is about to happen...The listening experience here, along with the promotional write up for the album, is exhausting. "Colours Changing" opens the album in a fuzzy, blurry psychedelic rock style akin to the 60s fare and with this the stage is set with what falls ahead. Popclaw/Rise Above are the respective labels involved, with the latter needing no explanations of what to expect here. Songs run from short to longer yet still short lengths, recalling the bygone days of pop and rock singles and the day of the seven inch vinyl.
The music here could easily have been made in the 60s and the production values are in the note of the same values. In these days of AI generated albums that try to recreate the human element and spirit of this retrograde sound, one hears music like this and know that AI just can't compare. The lemonade sound of the music washing over the blur of orange sunbeams gives it a more daylight sound than one would hear from something like a nocturne. Female vocals coronate the album feel, making it all very vintage and smooth like an old, cracked leather sofa that has been refurbished. A happy feel permeates the music especially so in "Borrowed Time" and though this sort of music isn't usually my cup of tea and lime, it isn't so bad at all.
A mixture of garage rock and at times a hint of California surf music makes this a unique album to be sure and I feel that good old feeling of something old and from an antique shop creep in. The use of song title and word of lyrics makes for interesting things and are quite well done in terms of writing and setting the mood; "The Rain Parade" and "Two Hearts", for example. The human element and retro feel are warm and welcoming on this album and I am quite amazed at how good of a time I am having in listening to the album. At times there is a full on bullshit hippie feel here that wants these bums out of my beach town of metaphoric means, but I would be lying to say I didn't enjoy this listen. Twangy guitars, Wah wah-sih pedals and effects, strobing bass and eclectic drums...they have done well here. Also, you will hear acoustic guitar and sitar sounds of the old folk-rock era, and I wonder what we will have in the future that wasn't already somehow done better as I look even further into the days of Chopin, Bach and Paganini...I must applaud this album for recapturing another age and in ways far better than those of before. If we can move ahead in this manner, we will have done something.
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