ALBUM REVIEW: Me And My Bellbottom Blues – Sonic Flower
There’s something beautiful about psychedelic rock. We never know what we’re going to get – much like that narcotic it’s associated with. Will a record fill us with the comforting warm and fuzzies, or will be a bad trip into existential crisis? If there’s anyone well versed in this mysterious genre, it’s Tatsu Mikami, the bassist of Japan’s psych doom unit CHURCH OF MISERY. Though we’re not here to discuss those, as much as we would like to. Instead, sat in the hazy sunset of the horizon is Mikami’s side-project SONIC FLOWER, who return from their four-year hiatus with their third album, Me And My Bellbottom Blues. Slinging the bass over his shoulder again, Mikami recruits fellow CHURCH OF MISERY member Kazuhiro Asaeda for vocal duties on a seven-track slab of fuzz. If the typical doom metal about how the world is in disarray is what’s being sought after, here it is.
Me And My Bellbottom Blues exudes the wonderfully nostalgic vibes of the 70s. Though many of us were merely the root of a dirty thought at that time, we long for that carefree summer of love. Though it wasn’t all daisy chains and orgies, not by any stretch. Opening track Swineherd puts that assumption to rest. A track pertaining to the porcine nature of powers that be, or rather, the abuse of that power oozes through Fumiya Hattori’s blusey riffs. If the laidback feel is all we’ve let ourselves in for, then we are delighted with the salacious groove which settles quietly into the background. What we do find a surprise however is Swineherd’s guitars are very crisp for a psych record. While there are elements of fuzz, they don’t overpower the moment. Rather it becomes an enchanting tool for pacing which keeps us wonderfully engaged over the seven-minute runtime.
A psych record is something which requires a certain investment, not that of emotion but that of time. They demand a listener’s time and reward you with a wealth of texture, moods, and, to be cheesy, vibrations of the mental calibre. Does that mean every track is going to be over six minutes long and chock full of distortion? No. Love Like Rubber and Captain Frost prove that subtle highs do exist and can be just as sweet as the long form. The trouble with condensing those tracks however doesn’t lie with the project. It lies with us and our natural inability to appreciate everything at once. On first listen the muddy riffs of Love Like Rubber and the slivers of bass beneath them steal our attention away from layered vocals and fuller drums from Toshiaki Umemura. It’s also within tracks like Captain Frost where we begin to see shorter doesn’t always mean better as it could have been a stronger effort from SONIC FLOWER.
A highlight comes with Quicksand Planet. Experimentation with the twang of an acoustic guitar piques our interest in the intro. Rolling drums sizzle. Quicksand Planet settles into a typical psych rhythm which allows us to sink into the realisation we do indeed “waste time and money” on things which don’t deserve it. The buzz of the bass warms our very soul. In turn, we’re left susceptible to the beautiful guitar tones which wash us away within a sea of appreciation. While the natural metronome of Poor Girl hooks us instantly, as we try to dive into the meaning of the lyrics, we glean this is the tale of a young woman who moved to the city and failed to acclimatise. Though this isn’t a straightforward tell-all. Over the eight-minute runtime, we’re teased with the story, drip fed between indulgent instrumentals. The tones come effortlessly. Guitar solos seem to fall out of the song with very little work. Is this pacing at its finest? Perhaps not as it does lose our attention at around minute six.
Which leads us to the monolithic closing track. Named after the band itself, the song aims to demonstrate everything the band have to offer and takes a hefty ten minutes to do so. This is sonically brighter than the preceding tracks but there is still that element of dirt residing in the guitar strings. The lower harmonies under the main vocals sate a carnal need within us. An acoustic interlude towards the midsection of the track slides in with an easy electric sailing atop it. This leads us to the point that we have been rewarded with so much for the sum of our time. Does this warrant the track being ten minutes long? In our opinion it does not but we appreciate that it sits atop the SONIC FLOWER mountain.
SONIC FLOWER had a hell of a job to follow up 2018’s Rides Again. There was also the added pressure of returning from a hiatus. Were SONIC FLOWER going to match up to the expectation surrounding them upon their return? Absolutely. This doesn’t mean this album is perfection. Slight timing issues and the length of some of the tracks cut them just short of greatness. What we have in terms of Me And My Bellbottom Blues is a record worth deep diving into multiple times just to discover the simplest of nuances.
Rating: 7/10
Me And My Bellbottom Blues is out now via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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