As I look back at my prior mournfully poor ramblings on this fine site that you are reading, I noticed that it is now at least a decade, yes a DECADE, since I started mentioning the beginnings a “Retro Rock Sound”, with the likes of Blues Pills, Kadavar, and many more acts, some still with us, some faded away, who were using the Sixties and early Seventies as a direct influence, from the sound, to the style, to the instruments and techniques of the era. Well, as I pointed out above in deliberate upper case letters, it is over ten whole years, and the sound is not abating. It is no longer some niche movement that briefly popped up, rather a strong and sustained underground force, festivals like Freak Valley and labels like Heavy Psyche Sounds being stalwart champions of those who are long of hair and wide of flare. Now, wading in with their own excellent contribution comes Texan youngsters Smokey Mirror, their self titled debut LP being released into the world care of Lee Dorian’s ever excellent Rise Above Records.
‘Invisible Hand’ launches a blues-boogie guaranteed to have the soles of your dancing shoes crying for mercy as feet stamp and hips swing to the infectious attack. This is one hell of a party starter. ‘Pathless Forest’ continues the assault, beats that are surely part of the DNA of any person with a pulse keeping the sound thumping along, all the while the twin guitars allowing intricate riffage that builds into full on cowboy boot on the amp soloing that frankly had me imagining that it was coming from Link Wray’s Stratocaster care of a 1970s wormhole through time. As the title would suggest, things get more psychedelic with ‘Magick Circle’, the vocals of frontman Mario Rodriguez being fuzzed out and echoed as the band embark on an eight minute plus freak-out that demands an oil lamp show to accompany each and every live outing of the track. In comparison the follow up and lead single ‘Alpha-State Dissociative Trance’ launches into a Prog sprint, compressing what would be ten minutes of jazzy guitar stabs in the hands of the likes of Steve Howe into an almost obscenely short sub-three minute explosion of sound that should be a dissonant mess, but in the hands of these four young chaps instead speaks of an energy matched by talent.
Things slow down with the mellow sounding, full on brown acid tinged titled ‘Fried Vanilla Spider Trapeze’, the acoustic guitar and harmonica instrumental number reminding the listener that these boys are from the American South, where The Blues was formulated and flourishes still. Plugging in their amps again, ‘Sacrificial Altar’ nevertheless remains relaxing and mellow, allowing the listener to kick back chill out. However, hippies beware; you will only be allowed to sit and nod along for so long before like a building storm the volume increases with the tempo until a hurricane of sound blasts forth to have long hair flying from the affray, all before it subsides briefly into the mellow, allowing a short respite before a final sonic pummelling. The battered listener is then given time to lick their wounds to the mellow funky jazz of ‘A Thousand Days In The Desert’, but don’t get too comfortable, as whilst the opening beats of the following ‘Who’s To Say’ offer a promise of further recovery, and indeed, it does get a bit “Niiiice” (one for the fans of ‘The Fast Show’ there) for the first half, well the rock certainly rolls and rolls hard for the second half, before the album closes with the Spanish Guitar of ‘Recurring Nightmare’, a track with a dark undertone as steely as the eyes of Lee Van Cleef.
If ‘Smokey Mirror’ had been released through the Rise Above ‘Relics’ imprint, I’d have entirely believed this was some lost Seventies masterpiece. Instead, it is something new, energetic, and eminently deserving of success. Check out their Bandcamp for prior releases, and get buying.
(8.5/10 Spenny)
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