(((O))) Review: The Crystal Teardrop – Love You More

Since their formation in 2022, The Crystal Teardrop have been more than a revelation. They are one of the brightest bands carrying the psychedelic torch into the present day, drawing from ‘60s garage rock, raga rock, proto-punk, and the kind of mind-bending experimentation that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Their second album, Love You More, released through Popclaw, the Rise Above Records sublabel, shows just how far this Stoke-on-Trent band can take those influences without losing the vibrations and psychic power at the heart of their sound.

Following their debut album, ….Is Forming, Love You More finds Alexandra Rose, Leon Jones, Stuart Gray, Ed Quigley, and Huw Woodward continuing the journey that the Nuggets compilations helped preserve decades ago. I’ll be the first to admit that I tried listening to their debut last year and didn’t quite know what to make of it. Before long, I had completely forgotten about them.

Until now.

Listening to Love You More feels like a breath of fresh air. The Crystal Teardrop are keeping psychedelic garage rock alive with ambition, power, and a deep understanding of the genre’s history. There are even moments that recall Traffic at their most psychedelic. You can hear it in the flute improvisation on ‘Times Are Gone’, which sounds almost like a continuation of the musical path Traffic began exploring with ‘Paper Sun’. Then there’s ‘Outside Looking In’, where the guitars seem to create a strange, Mellotron-like atmosphere. It sounds unusual, and that is precisely why it works.

The eruptive drums, ‘60s pop-oriented Byrds-like harmonies, and hints of Blood Ceremony make the album even more unpredictable. Yet The Crystal Teardrop never seem content to stay in one place. They move from doom-tinged psychedelia toward a more Beatlesque sensibility, channeling the spirit of The Dukes of Stratosphear, the psychedelic alter ego of XTC, before suddenly transforming into a ‘60s punk attitude. ‘It’s Too Late’ becomes a tidal wave of surf-rock energy, the kind of song I could easily imagine Little Steven playing on Little Steven’s Underground Garage on SiriusXM.

From there, ‘Circumstances’ takes us somewhere completely different. We enter a cavernous space filled with droning sitars, creating a meditative atmosphere that feels like a guru approaching the listener with advice and ancient wisdom. The song sends us into kaleidoscopic imagery, forcing us to contemplate the circumstances surrounding us.

‘Room Without a View’ returns to that Beatlesque territory, particularly the experimental spirit of the Revolver era. But just when you think you know where the song is heading, an organ-driven 12-bar blues shuffle emerges toward the end. It is an unexpected twist, but it works. The Crystal Teardrop embrace the blues without sacrificing the psychedelic power that drives the rest of the album.

The organ on ‘What It Adds Up To’ rises like a volcano before erupting into a joyful celebration. There is an almost Italianate quality to the track, bringing to mind the adventurous spirit of late-‘60s cinema and the beginning of the New Hollywood era. That period saw American filmmakers challenging the traditional Hollywood system while drawing inspiration from international directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, and Jean-Luc Godard, as well as from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The Crystal Teardrop seem to capture that same spirit of experimentation: familiar influences being pulled apart, reshaped, and turned into something new.

Closing track ‘Touch the Sun’ is where The Crystal Teardrop truly venture into outer space. The song embraces a trippy, otherworldly drone and raga-inspired atmosphere that would surely have made John Lennon and George Harrison proud. There are echoes of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, along with the influence of Ladbroke Grove’s Quintessence, another band that understood the spiritual possibilities of psychedelic rock.

At seven minutes, ‘Touch the Sun’ feels like a journey through the psychedelic Star Gate of 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can almost picture Dave Bowman entering the Star Gate sequence as The Crystal Teardrop provide the soundtrack. The music keeps you suspended between reality and something much stranger, leaving you wondering where the band will take you next.

And that is ultimately what makes Love You More such an intriguing album: it is a challenge.

It may take several listens to determine whether it moves you, confuses you, excites you, or makes you uncomfortable. That seems to be exactly what The Crystal Teardrop want. They are not interested in making music that simply sits in the background. They want to push their listeners, challenge expectations, and force you to react.

Not everyone will like what they hear, and that is perfectly fine.

I took the challenge, and I came away genuinely impressed. Love You More is an adventurous, unpredictable, and thoroughly psychedelic record that proves The Crystal Teardrop have plenty more to offer. If this is only the beginning, then I’m curious, and more than a little excited, to see where they take us next.