HEAVY WATER EXPERIMENTS - review added 10th August 2009
Album Review: Heavy Water Experiments (self titled) (2009)
For fans of: Psychedelic Rock... and experimental herbs
A band named 'Heavy Water Experiments' conjures up only one genre in the mind. The title is too clever for death metal, too smug for thrash, too deep for AOR and too far-out for punk. The cover art only serves to confirm this could be nothing but spaced-out retro prog.
One quick listen lets you know you've hit the reefer on the bong, er, I mean the nail on the head. The immediate impression is of a bunch of very chilled hippy-types sat around in a commune making sweet and mellow music together. Listening to the album makes you feel like you're on some sort of trip.
There's good musicianship happening and, with instruments including an 8-string bass, you know these guys and gals are serious about what they do. But it really is the musical equivalent of donning an Afghan coat, sinking into a hammock and floating away in a haze of purple clouds, glitter-laden stars and jelly rainbows.
Heavy Water Experiments is fronted by singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, and producer David Melbye. Roberto Salguero plays drums and percussion. For live shows they add Rebecca Black on keyboards/vocals and Rick Staggs on bass.
The songs are mostly a stoned blur, but a few tracks lift their heads above the mist... admittedly in an overwhelmingly tranquil fashion, 'Anodyne' heads towards the realms of indie music. It's a chart bothering track you could imagine in an artsy advert - possibly for a trendy new paracetamol. 'Otherland' sounds like The Doors playing a Queens Of The Stone Age song in a haunted house. It should be awful but it isn't.
The happily titled 'Dementia' turns out to be a bright airy track with an upbeat pleasing sound. It's one of the least stone-fuelled tracks on the album and is all the better for it. The sound of flames and, possibly, human skin turning to crackling starts 'Conflagration Song' is a surprising addition. Final track 'Book Colored Blue' is a 9 minute psychedelic adventure through distorted bass and grandiose understatement. It sums up the album with aplomb.
This eponymous album is a love it or hate it affair. It isn't really music; it's more of an experience. You couldn't describe it as mass market, but the people who like it are going to love it like no other. Me? It's not my thing, but I'd totally understand if you never wanted to play anything else.
Check out... Some illicit substances before you listen to this.
Track List:
1. Goldenthroat
2. Mirror the Sky
3. Anodyne
4. Clairvoyance
5. Neverlove
6. Oracles
7. Octavian
8. Otherland
9. Dementia
10. Conflagration Song
11. Solitude
12. Book Colored Blue
Label: Intrepid Sounds
Artist's website(s): Heavy Water Experiments , MySpace
