Review: Pretty Lightning - A Magic Lane Of Light And Rain

Pretty Lightning are Christian Berghoff and Sebastian Haas, erstwhile members of the German psych/krautrock/prog/space collective that is Datashock. Whereas Datashock specialise in free-flowing, slow-burning, meditative psychedelia, Pretty Lightning have a more stripped down, lo-fi blues approach that focuses on the results not the process - there's no flashy production or gimmicky effects...just some fine, fine music.

'Bow Low' sets the scene nicely with it's speaker-rattling fuzz and cavernous drums with vocals so low in the mix it sounds as though they were recorded miles away, it's some real dirty, scuzzy blues. 'Marble Moon' takes a slightly more 'traditional' take on garage psych with some great farfisa-sounding organ. 'Woodlands' has more of the same fuzz-drenched guitar knocking out a great blues riff backed with more thunderous drums, with some feedback for good measure while 'Hypnooze' is a musical mantra of an instrumental; a repetitive groove with some surprisingly unfuzzy guitar riffing on a blues theme. 'Good Old Liar' rattles along at a sedate pace, again very bluesy but with some very psych sounding backmasking in the mix and the vocals sounding almost harmonious. 'Moonshine Blooze', with it's ghostly, almost ethereal vocals, slightly off-kilter rhythm and more backmasking, is a real slow-burner, it has a dreamy, hypnagogic quality about it. 'A Gift From A Bone To a Bell' is a real treat...after the introductory couple or so minutes of repetitive drones and loops it suddenly kicks into life without warning and becomes a stormer of a track...a pacey and fuzzy blues rocker with attitude and attack and loads of lovely fuzz and more solid drumwork. 'The Rainbow Machine' again reverts to type...more muted vocals and reverb laden guitars that can shake the foundations, and for some variety, some electronic effects that sound like a drunken music-box.'The Hobo Theme' has a melancholic, bucolic ring to it, like the titular lonely traveller in life. Closer 'Graveyard Howls' is also the longest track on the album at just over eight minutes in length. It is heralded by great drones and distant cowbells until it evolves into another blues stomper with the now familiar gently howling guitar and hushed vocals.

I'll be honest here; on my first, somewhat distracted, listen my first thought that this was a solid album but without a great deal of variety. However, when I gave it the attention it deserves, this album does have variety...not the 'different track, different style' type variety, but it's there nonetheless. Although ostensibly an electric blues record it has flourishes of hazy psychedelia via the Mississippi Delta....it has real atmosphere, style and a fine line in lowdown and dirty blues. So if you are a-hankerin' for a record rooted in the legacy of Son House and Willie Brown, with a touch of the deranged electric blues of Bob Log III and the psych sensibilities of The Black Angels and Wooden Shjips then this an album you really need to own. And I managed to get through this review without mentioning The Black Keys......oh bugger!

'A Magic Lane Of Light And Rain' is released on 11th May via Cardinal Fuzz / Sound Effects Records. If you're luckily enough to be going to the Eindhoven Psych fest then you can catch Pretty lightning there. I'm pleased to say that the Dayz of Purple shop has a limited number in stock here.