MERCH
'MERCY OF THE CRANE FOLK'
Vinyl + CD
It’s a haunting and immersive trip into the inner psyche of these nomadic soothsayers; a psychedelic dance party from a half-lit underground world; breathlessly eerie and all consuming; a salubrious sojourn that sounds like nothing else. Filled with a kind of peculiar optimistic uncertainty that any quest to make sense of a drowsy recollection of simpler and far better times would have; ‘Mercy Of The Crane Folk’ is soft and serene summoning up a fanciful folkloric place where, undoubtedly, the mysterious crane flock prosper.
The music is all-consuming – you hear that echoey guitar similar to Ennio Morricone soundtracks, there are words but there are also Yma Sumac-like operatics pricking at your psyche. It’s one of those great happenings that you almost feel like you dreamt; melodies tumble into the undergrowth, that keyboard sound is straight from Richard Wright circa ‘Saucerful Of Secrets’, that folky ambience is a glimpse of what you always thought The Incredible String Band could sound like but with a driving, haunting edge. A mythical “experience” that you don’t want to end, some place you never want to come down from… a warm glowing fantastical secret fete happening through the dark woods. It feels strangely comfortable and safe; a place to collapse into; with a soundtrack that seems so familiar; an ambient spiritual symphony that constantly returns in hazy half memories.
'IMMATERIAL POSSESSION'
Vinyl + CD
“Immaterial Possession‘s album of the same title contains 11 tracks of dreamy mystique. Within its own clearly marked boundaries of bewildered reasoning, it drifts from the heavy, right through to the sombre, but mostly it floats across a river of intrigue, choosing to not rely too much on rigid human emotion in favour of presenting the mind with deeper puzzles and ideas. Recurring traits include a steady 70s-esque bass tone, some gently distorted guitars of the same period, and all manner of keyboards designed to operate in matrimony with the above. Credit goes also to the dynamic range of vocals sung by female and male band members.
However, despite the unashamed homage to the hallucinogenic sounds of half a century past (and their superbly bizarre videos are a strong indication of this), this album is more than just a nostalgia trip. It contains enough clout and clarity to exist fully in the now. It just so happens that this project is made with a clear sense of direction, within a small pocket of style inside a vast spectrum of psychedelic rock. When considering that, one cannot really place a fault with this record. If you have even the remotest taste for the aforementioned nuances, then you’ll have a hard time resisting the album’s alluring charm for any more than two back-to-back tracks.”
“For all of its otherworldly meandering, and I mean that as the best of compliments, Immaterial Possession stands as a fully focused and driven piece of work. To have such boundless strangeness and creativity can only be the product of a group of individuals who are totally locked in and ready to get the job done. In turn, the listeners get treated to a feat of grand imagination and airtight songwriting. As loyal disciples of the weird and wonderful, Immaterial Possession do serve, and this is an album destined to sit never too far back in the wandering mind’s playlist for any long stretch.”