Anything that immediately reminds me of the prog-infused, acid-soaked surrealism of the post-pop golden age of The Moody Blues has got to be a great way to warm the pen up, and indeed the mind, as I sit down to start the writing day. And although “Afternoon of Acid Rain” isn’t a deliberate attempt to wallow in the past, it will certainly appeal to Syd Barrett era Floyd devotees, not to mention later torchbearers such as Tame Impala’s brand of cosmic indie.
Hallucinophonics, as the name suggests, have always had a way with the off-beat and the trippy, the ambient and the other, but “Afternoon of Acid Rain” sees them at their most surreal, especially the lyrical trip of Lewis Carroll-esque imagery – “sonic landscape with candy corn girls, crocodile women with jellyfish hearts, avalanche people with glassy-eyed stares, and a seven-foot chicken wielding a six-foot guitar!”
But musically too, the blend of slowly rising atmosphere and anticipation, building from ambient soundscapes into gentle psych-pop and then stepping up through trippy, arabesque riffs and anthemic vocal drives, and finally a salvo of squalling, acid rock guitars, neatly separated by clever lulls and interludes, all of which makes the highs feel even higher, the returning crescendos more elevated.
Amongst the feeling of nostalgia is another, even more obvious vibe, one that points to the lack of experimentalism and avant-gardism in modern music. When we look to the past, it is not the sound, but the bravery and sense of adventure that we should take away from those bygone days. Not just take it away, but use that attitude as the basis for something new to take hold in the modern musical world, just as Hallucinophonics have done here.
Website
Spotify
Soundcloud
YouTube
Instagram
