Review: Psychic Lemon - Frequency Rhythm Distortion Delay

So, here we are, another new year...all the musical postmortems have been carried out on the slowly decaying cadaver of 2017 (and what a vintage year it was) and we usher in 2018 with a tremulous optimism and no small amount of excitement as to what it will bring on the music front. Mark this in your diary...I will stick my neck out and state that 2018 will be even better! Brave words you say...well, no not really because I think I've already heard one of the albums of the year - I could have reviewed this weeks back but decided that it would make the ideal first post of the year....you can forget your fireworks, lumps of coal and stadium sized hangovers because here is Psychic Lemon. It was almost two years ago that the band emerged like a krautrock juggernaut from the sleepy Cambridge suburbs...their debut album swept across the internet like the apocryphal breath of fresh air and when Drone Rock records gave it a vinyl release it became a sensation (Tonzonen are doing the honours this time around).....there was nary an 'end of year' list in which it did not appear. No pressure then lads for your sophomore album! Rather handily, they have put their manifesto front and centre as the title for the beast and, needless to say, it is phenomenal!

Over five tracks, 43 minutes and multivarious universes, 'Frequency Rhythm Distortion Delay' doesn't stop for breath or comfort breaks but that doesn't matter because for the listener time becomes irrelevent...a theoretical construct, such is the power that this album holds. 'Exit To The Death Lane' opens proceedings with a flurry of neo-psych guitars and crashing drums, all coming together to form that mythical 'wall of sound'. Muted vocal choruses and some superlative guitar work break through this wall and the whole feel changes into something...well...just incredibly psychedelic. It channels the 'Happenings' era Floyd and the spacey hustle of Hawkwind and yet remains firmly Psychic Lemon. 'Hey Droog!' is a monster - huge riffs and more muted vocals that sound almost choral herald moments of sheer psych heaven...it is driven forward by pummelling drums (I swear Martin has 3 arms!) and throbbing basslines. It is heavy and yet remarkably fluid...an absolute masterclass. If Alex and his droogs had listened to this instead of Beethoven then 'A Clockwork Orange' would be a whole different tale. 'You're No Good' reins in the visceral power for a more melody based approach, complete with vocals. The high tempo fuzz is still there as are the motorik rhythms but the 'feel' is more one of Amon Duul rather than Hawkwind...but there is a sting in the tail...a minute or so from the end there enters a skronky saxophone and the whole vibe changes again, albeit for a short time. 'Interstellar Fuzz Star' is, for me, the highlight...a cosmic jam of huge proportions. It has an ebb and flow that gives it an organic feel, like the track itself were a sentient being; passages of repetition based jamming followed by some seriously high class, high octane space rock. This track felt to me like the live Psychic Lemon 'experience' being committed to tape...it has the same intensity and quality and feeling of improvisation...sheer brilliance. The album is brought to a close with 'Satori Disko' - a more laid back number with the emphasis firmly on atmosphere. Electronica plays a more central role with bubbling, spacey effects and seemingly random bleeps acting as a backdrop to metronomic drums and some seriously lush guitarwork. I wouldn't go as far as saying it is 'blissed out' but it certainly helps to re-centre the head after the grey matter melting workout given by the preceding tracks.

'Frequency Rhythm Distortion Delay' has already given us the benchmark by which all other albums will be measured this year...it is a work of psychedelia that respectfully reflects the band's influences but still manages to be something different, something unique in the psych arena. Taking psych, krautrock and space rock in equal measures, Psychic Lemon have applied their alchemical skills to produce the musical equivalent of the Philosopher's Stone. A rare and precious thing this....a complete work, a magnum opus that exhilarates and leaves the listener spellbound. All of this has been done by guys who are unassuming and gentlemen to a man....no 'rockstar' pretensions or diva-like hissy fits...just blokes doing what they love and doing it fucking well. This is superb! The album is released January 12th but is available to pre-order from Tonzonen Records here (180g purple splatter vinyl in a gatefold sleeve) and the CD and download can be got via the band's Bandcamp page here