Put on your bell bottoms, grab your lava lamp and jump in your shaggin’ wagon it’s time for another trip down nostalgia way. This time we are going via the desert road, which strangely is now winding around Yorkshire!
Psychlona, since 2016 have been laying down groovy stoner “kebab and roll” as they deem it from their home city of Bradford. To describe their sound in a pita bread (rather than nut shell) I would have to say Uncle Acid jamming with Nebula with ASG sat in the passenger seat.
There are dreamy occult rock vibes drifting in and out of the tracks – the Uncle’s foot prints can be seen especially on Blow which has a delightful “Blockbuster” stomp to it and there are spacey Monster Magnet meets Hawkwind moments throughout. The opener Blast off and Resin have galactic grooves that will propel any would be psychonaut into orbit with a grin on their face.
10,000 volts is one of those songs that gets under your skin and in your head like the burrowing worm from Wrath of Khan. Except this time the worm is impregnated with Mezcal. It has the kind of relentless riff that makes your body move and the spacey feel that makes your mind wander to a better place. Much needed in present circumstances.
As mentioned before Psychlona (damn I spell it wrong every time then have to correct) like to mix in a very UK sound into their California desert rock and the slowed down 70’s glam rock used on Blow works just as well as the cactus lined tabs although it could almost be different bands. Star has a Lemmy era Hawkwind / On Parole era Motorhead vibe with plenty of cowbell and trade offs between fuzzy riffs and spiralling leads. As the lyric says – So god damn Rock and Roll! The following track is called Edge of the Universe. Nuff said!
Resin is cut with Pink Floyd in the verses whilst still erupting into giant fuzzy fractals before Psychlona bring us straight back to earth with the pulsating drag race across the border that is Tijuana. Pure desert rock vibes abound as the dust is kicked up by this souped up Pontiac Firebird of a track. Surely even ICE couldn’t catch these fellas on the return journey?
Putting brakes on this Venus Skytrip was always going to be tough. Should the band bring it skidding to a halt at the edge of a canyon somewhere or shoot the whole thing off aiming for alpha centauri. In the end Psychlona chose an earthy psychedelic route in the shape of the 9 plus minute epic The Owl. An ominous drum beat, flanged guitars a none more groovy bass line and some big big leads, this is a fitting end to a good collection of tunes.
Pschlona dip their veggies in various sonic sauces on Venus Skytrip but carry enough of their own flavour that they are not overwhelmed. Who knew Bradford were putting peyote in their kebabs!
(7.5/10 Matt Mason)
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