If you are already familiar with the Dutch psych rockers then you should know that they are right up there in terms of quality and pure sonic cohesiveness with the likes of latter-day genre slayers Crobot, Scorpion Child and The Black Angels. Looking back think MC5 with more freedom.
Insistent, big, brash and bold with a hypnotic vocal and organ carrying it along perfectly – ‘Blisters’ is a great opener to Birth of Joy’s latest opus ‘Get Well’.
If you are already familiar with the Dutch psych rockers then you should know that they are right up there in terms of quality and pure sonic cohesiveness with the likes of latter-day genre slayers Crobot, Scorpion Child and The Black Angels. Looking back think MC5 with more freedom.
Four albums in there’s still that wonderfully eclectic use of the sounds and spirit of 60’s and70’s psychedelia melded with a harder rock edge that makes them both refreshing and familiar at the same time.
Talking highlights ‘Meet me at the Bottom’ the single starts all laid back and ends up buried beneath a huge heavy riff, it’s atmospheric, beautiful and brutal at the same time, and cool as shit. There’s experimentation at play on ‘Choose sides’ and a real modern almost Strokes-like vibe. Elsewhere ‘Numb’ takes Pink Floyd to Led Zeppelin; ‘Midnight Cruise’ even offers up some Blues and Jazz to the mix; and ‘You Got Me Howling’ might just be there best straight up rocker to date.
The album closes with two possibly polarising tracks the epic title track with its cowboy blues opening strains that will either take you on a great journey or lull you to sleep and ‘Hands Down’ the closer that is probably the most immediate song on the album.
If you loved 2014’s ‘Prisoner’ album like we did you’ll love this just as much, perhaps even more.
TRACKLIST
Blisters
Meet Me At The Bottom
Choose Sides
Numb
Midnight Cruise
Carabiner
Those Wo Are Awake
You Got Me Howling
Get Well
Hands Down
