Outrageously late to the party on this one and I know a few reading this will be all like ‘well yeah where have you been?’ but I’m five thousand miles away from the action and delighted to say that I caught up in the end. This 2018 album has totally blown me away so naturally I’m here to hopefully pull a few fellow slowcoaches along for the ride.
It’s no secret that the Whitney’s Playland album Sunset Sea Breeze has really grabbed me this year so it’s only natural that I dived into that bands backstory in pursuit of further magic. With this album I hit pure gold.
San Francisco based Blades Of Joy’s primary collaborators were Inna Showalter and guitarist Anthony OBC, and in truth the only real consistency with Whitney’s Playland is to be found in Showalter’s vocals, which once again provide a earthy centre to the album and are breathtaking in their delivery. There is love, pain and mystery in abundance, and whilst this isn’t the perfect sun-kissed indie that Whitney’s excel at, it is every bit as captivating.
Is it hyperbolic to call this album a full on psych-rock masterpiece? Who knows, but to me right now that is exactly what it is. The opening one/two punch of Inside Out/Be Free is relentless in its power. The melodies twist and turn around fiercely atmospheric guitar lines and a rhythm section that snaps like elastic. Think Mad Jack era Chameleons and you’re kind of in the ballpark.
Let The People Ride is the longest track and serves as the album’s centrepiece. It’s first half keeps up the pace and power of that opening salvo, before giving way to gentle waves of arpeggios and moonlit wonder, a hint of what awaits us when we flip the record.
The second side of this album takes that new found calm and runs with it. The guitars no longer need to growl and snap to make themselves heard, which subtly brings Showalters voice and words out into the light. A different kind of power but every bit as devastating. Finally High serves as a hymn like introduction to what lies ahead, before Be Kind and 22 carry us gently in the purest of psych-pop arms.
Those arms leave us at the feet of Stranger, which has to go down as one of the great album closers of recent times. It rises and falls, builds and breaks, and through it all Showalter holds steady and delivers line after beautiful line, attempting to forge a connection in spite of everything, with us right there at her side, feeling every word.
With every single riff, drum fill and melody that bursts from the speakers you can hear the birth of the San Francisco underground as we currently know it. I’m not sure if there will ever be another Blades Of Joy album, and I’m not sure how you would even begin following up a record like this. So here we are, left for now with this one pretty much perfect broadcast to the world. Are you ready to tune in?
Out now via Melters.
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