Two decades on from their last album, The Heads fifth is a heady stew of the sounds that make them such a vital force in psychedelic music. Arguably one of the greats, this album is another fine entry in an indisputable catalogue. As ever, be prepared for your synapses to be fried, although this time it feels like a much more mature sound rather than their usual full on assault on the senses. Either way, take the trip, man.
From a groovy, funky start with ‘hits like a dove’, the wah wah guitar taking us into space to the switch to ‘cardinal fuzz’ (an ode to our favourite record label?), it feels almost disjointed as the sampled voices provide a sense of displacement. With fuzzed up riffs invoking Black Sabbath, it’s a heavy, heady start. ‘can’t stop the rushing’ is a much more chilled out proposition which builds up a real head of steam in its second half, reminiscent of those early Heads tracks which exploded in unfurling riffs and noise. Whereas the title track is a meandering exploration in krautrock which is both hypnotic inducing, and lysergically enhancing.
This is the last of the epic tracks though and from now it’s a squall of garage rock tracks with ‘on’ being the first to fry the synapses. ‘snake oil’ is a fuzz filled exploration in sound, intercut with Stoogian guitar. ‘sunquaker’ is full of the blues, distorted into psychedelic shapes. They return to meandering psychedelia of the title track on ‘socially awkward’, which although a quarter of that tracks length, is nonetheless exploratory. The album kind of merges into a blur now as the tracks get smaller and more out there, and you feel you are being prepared for a trip to the outer realms. ‘it’s all over now sunshine’ may well do this, particularly if you have ingested the correct type/s of drug/s. It’s trance like demeanour lulling you into a state of zoned out bliss. ‘off’ becomes the come down to the previous track, setting us down in a hazy, elegiac finish of subdued psych. You may survived physically, but your mind will remain fried. It’s The Heads man, it’s what they do.
