Review: Early Mammal - Take A Lover

What better way to kick things off again after a few days away than with one of the most intriguing and most enjoyable albums I've heard in a while. Early Mammal are a new addition to the venerable Riot Season roster, but have been plying their trade for a while now. The band formed in 2012 and released two exceptional albums in 2013: 'Horror at Pleasure' (Devouter) and 'My Fire' (Convoy Records), both of which garnered rave reviews and 'Take A Lover' will no doubt extend that run. Early Mammal are: Rob Herian - guitar, drone box & vocals, Ben Davis - drums & Ben Tat - bass & baritone guitars.

The album kicks off in fine style - 'The Great German' is a seven and a half minute instrumental acid jam with some superb soaring psychedelic guitar work that immediately takes things to a cosmic level, backed with some Doorsian organ that gives it a touch of sixties authenticity. 'Inside' ups the power a tad with some big, fuzzy riffs to add some Sabbath doomy stylings to the mix and the vocals, hidden down in the mix, have a grungey feel about them. 'Morning' shifts the focus again. The fuzzy riffage is gone and replaced by some more delicate guitar - it has the same feel as some of Jane's Addiction's more mellow material, say 'Summertime Rolls', with maybe a more psychy, sixties tinge. The juxtaposition of this with the heaviness of the preceeding 'Inside' gives the album a real chiaroscuro effect; the lightness of 'Morning' bringing some brightness after the shade of 'Inside'. 'Sigh on' further extends the mellowness...the acoustic guitar plucks out a folky refrain while the vocal harmonies sound plaintive and yearning. The fuzz returns with vengeance in 'Glad is night', the speakers shake with the amount of reverb - the slow, fuzzy riffs taking us back into psych / space rock territory over a slow but rock solid rhythm. There are murmurings of sporadic, hushed vocals, again treated with layers of distortion and reverb. It is trancerock at it's very best...hypnotic, hypnagogic and truly psychedelic. 'Sak Bacle', with it's shamanistic drums and twanging guitar, takes us to the sun-bake aridness of Death Valley and, as a track, would fit in nicely onto some of the ace 'Italian Occult Psychedelia' material that is gathering rave reviews (Heroin in Tahiti, Squadra Omega etc). 'Magic, Art and Bells' is a short spoken word sample on the subject of magic and art ('a sound magician is a mighty god'). The closing track 'The Good / GG Return and Out' once more sees the fuzz turned up to 11. Another track which takes us back, but to the early seventies heavy psych scene rather than the sixties...some fine guitar with some distortion you can almost taste and a rhythm that never gives in. As the track comes to a close, there is a reprise almost immediately afterward and gradually disappears in a cloud of echo and reverb.

Before I got the promo for this album (cheers Andy!) I heard a couple of tracks and thought it sounded good; after hearing the whole album I've changed my mind, it's a quite brilliant album...the composition and running order show a true level of thought and drama, the music itself is ace...when they freakout, they really freakout but it is counterbalance beautifully by some more introspective pieces, and that fantastic fuzz!! Kudos must go to Riot Season as well for picking up on this. 'Take A Lover' is released end of September on vinyl and download via Riot Season...go get it!