Psychedelic Backfire II

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 01:02:20
Personnel: Stale Storlokken (Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond b-3 organ, Mellotron, synthesizer); Torstein Lofthus (drums). Audio Mixers: Elephant9; Christian Engfelt. Recording information: Live Concert, Kampen Bistro (01/11/2019/01/12/2019). The second volume of Elephant9's Psychedelic Backfire II was recorded live over the final two evenings at Oslo's Kampen Bistro. They were joined by frequent collaborator, guitarist Reine Fiske (Dungen, the Amazing), co-billed on their studio albums Atlantis (2012) and Silver Mountain (2015). This sprawling double-length release is offered sans overdubs, edits, or corrections. Like its companion, the material performed is drawn from the band's studio catalog with and without the guitarist. The set opens with a cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." The studio version appeared on Silver Mountain, but this version is very different and longer by half. While the studio read opened with an abstracted, dissonant intro, this one, after some initial droning of guitar and organ, offers a hypnotic vamp suggestive of Miles Davis' "Shh/Peaceful" from In a Silent Way. Keyboardist Stale Storlokken uses an organ and a mellotron that evoke a classical flute, while Fiske's economical finger-plucked strings rise above the gently pulsing, hypnotic vamp from Nikolai Haengsle's bass and the shimmering hi-hat and pulsing snare of Torstein Lofthus. They persist with this groove even as Storlokken introduces a languid take on the melody. The frontline players begin to stretch the melodic frame as the rhythm section ups the intensity and the tune veers off into a trippy, delicious jam. Fiske's solo is snaky, labyrinthine, and spiky. His playing adds textural dimension, heft, and depth to the trio's dark drift. This is underscored by repeat performances of the medley "Skink"/"Fugl Fonix" and "Habanero Rocket." The former is more aggressive than the version on PSI, melding prog rock a la Soft Machine with Trad, Gras och Stenar's (another band Fiske plays with) cavernous psychedelia and the Grateful Dead's outer-dimensional jamming. The latter involves Fiske as a third player in a bass and organ exchange that, in the opening minutes, actively engages melody to be fleshed out by the guitarist. His shard-like lyricism extends the reach of the rhythm section's pulsing vamp toward a conversation that eventually erupts into an overdriven collective force. The closer, "Freedom's Children"/"John Tinnick," melds a bluesy hard rock riff to funky interplay with Fiske and Storlokken going head to head as Lofthus breaks and fills with constant friction and Haengsle pushes the funk into the red near the six-minute mark. Before it dissolves into complete chaos, a trio of power chords and rumbling, droning bass notes center it in dissolve; it's a complete reversal slipping seamlessly into spacy, languid improvisation. Some six minutes later, it's turned inside-out and shapeshifts into a heavy, prog-psych groover -- think Deep Purple's "Space Truckin'." Fiske's participation makes PSII even more compelling than its fine companion album. It is arguably Elephant9's finest live offering to date, and a guidepost to other bands showing how it's done. ~ Thom Jurek