ALBUM REVIEW: Once Upon A Time In The Desert – Brant Bjork Trio

For those who don’t recognise the name, just know that Brant Bjork is very much one of the founding fathers of desert rock. If there were a stoner version of Mt. Rushmore, his head would no doubt be carved high on the rock, perhaps alongside Josh Homme, Dave Wyndorf and Scott Hill, although you could probably argue about those others for the rest of eternity. Bjork, though, is undisputed. Best known as the drummer and founding member of the legendary KYUSS, he went on to play with other influential scene stalwarts like FU MANCHU and MONDO GENERATOR. Since the early 2000s, Bjork has maintained a prolific solo career, releasing over a dozen albums with a variety of other well-respected desert rock alumni.

Now he brings us the BRANT BJORK TRIO’s debut offering, the aptly titled Once Upon A Time In The Desert. Joined by his old friend and fellow desert rock pioneer Mario Lalli of YAWNING MAN and FATSO JETSON on bass and long term collaborator Ryan Gut on drums, this supergroup of sorts is here to bring the groovy vibes and sun-kissed riffs of Southern California directly into your earholes.   

There is something wonderfully familiar about the guitar tone on this record and it greets you on opening track U.R. Free like a hug from an old friend. It’s funky, it’s bright and it’s bluesy, although it lacks the fuzz you might expect from Bjork’s former projects. As the title suggests, this is a feel-good throwback to the West Coast psychedelia of the early 70s, the lyrics containing life-affirming messages of positivity and general good vibes (“No shame in you, no shame in me / You got everything you need, you are free”). This super-retro feel continues on second track Backin’ The Daze, where the rhythm section of Lalli and Gut really lock in together to drive the song forward under Bjork’s satisfyingly groovy main riff. There’s no doubt that you’re listening to three musicians at the top of their game here, the interplay between each instrument working organically to enhance the flow of the song without ever losing its live feel.

Down The Mountain adds a little more weight to the proceedings, the pounding drums matching perfectly to the spiralling riff that kicks off the verses. Bjork’s vocals on this song are just the right side of laid back, part spoken and part sung and reminiscent in many ways of JIMI HENDRIX. In fact, there’s a whole heap of HENDRIX influences on here, whether in the guitar tone, the funky flares and trills that Bjork frequently adds to his playing, or in the vocal delivery.

Magic Surfer Magazine plays on the idea of Bjork as a young, nerdy loner who can’t wait to pick up the next edition of his favourite magazine and who dreams of being “a surfer too, just like you”. This one picks up the pace with a more garage rock feel to it, especially in the catch (if not lyrically mind-blowing) chorus, although that garage rock is still very much rooted in the late 60s. You get the feeling that Bjork is really looking back over his life on this record, telling stories of his youth set to songs that wear his earliest influences clearly on their sleeves. And while this makes for some wistful, sunshine-filled, catchy groove rock in places it also results in some of the album sounding a little cliched, like Sunshine Is Making Love To Your Mind which sounds like it might have been a song rejected by CREAM for being too derivative.

That said though, there are a lot of enjoyable moments on this record if you’re happy to let it wash over you without thinking about it too much. And Hell, if anyone in the desert rock scene has earned the right to play whatever they want, however they want to, it’s Brant Bjork. It’s just a shame that he spends so much time looking back when bands like SUNDRIFTER and PSYCHLONA are really propelling the genre into the future. 

Rating: 6/10

Once Upon A Time In The Desert is set for release on September 20th via Duna Records.

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