ALBUM REVIEW: Bougainvillea Suite – Brant Bjork
BRANT BJORK has been the centre of the Southern Californian Palm Desert scene for the last quarter of a century. Outwardly laid back and true to himself, Bjork’s history is an illustrious narrative of ceaseless creativity. With his distinctly unique sound influenced by a colourful plethora of places, whether it be funk-laden or chilled-out jam room vibes, Bjork is a true master of his craft. Alongside his rebellious sensibilities, he continues to walk his own path, and it shows in his music. This has placed him as the first and foremost representative of the Southern Californian scene at home and abroad. Bougainvillea Suite is the next chapter in this illuminating journey. This is the last album to be recorded in his Joshua Tree Studio, so with an end of an era in mind Bougainvillea Suite is bittersweet as well as mystical.
With artists like BRANT BJORK you cannot help but stand in awe of the sheer magnitude of their creativity. Unconfined by genre norms and standards, Bjork once again takes you on a mesmeric journey through your mind, body and soul with the Mojave desert as a backdrop. Sounding just as fresh and funky as he did on his 1999 debut album Jalamanta, Bougainvillea Suite is another groove-laden, psychedelic blues experience with catchy, memorable melodies and lightly sprinkled with prog rhythms.
Ultimately though, this is a relaxing album; there is something mentally nourishing about taking the time to kick back and slow down with an album like this. The experience is best described as though you are floating aimlessly on a cloud with a cold beer in your hand, the suns rays gently caressing your skin as kaleidoscopic colour fills your eyes. As you are suspended in time, effervescent characters melt into one another to form fluid shapes as the sky moves through varying shades of purple and pink.
Hallucinogenic imagery aside, Bjork has an innate ability to write songs that intimately capture the people, place and time in which the album was crafted. Consistently engaged in the timeless nature of desert culture, his music captures the essence of freedom through rock and roll. Fusing his 1960s rock and soul influences with fine wine and marijuana, Bjork gives you a beautifully smooth, intoxicating album with a deeply heartfelt honesty that you can’t help but buy into. Imagine CREAM jamming in the Mojave with SLY & THE FAMILY STONE and you get Bougainvillea Suite.
Wearing his soul influences with pride, Bjork’s ethereal and soothing voice is the perfect spiritual guide through the album’s meditative grooves and entrancing keys melodies, while the guitar riffs contain a robot foundation for the layers of psychedelia to be built upon. Bougainvillea Suite is an interesting album as it gets more relaxed at it progresses due to the gradual softening of the distortion on the guitar. Alongside that, each song melts into the next with the smoothest of transitions.
Opening up with Trip On The Wine you’re introduced to this wonderfully spacious song with quick dashes of percussion moving through the speakers. It really gets you in the mood for the rest of the album. Good Bones feels more funky and proggy as the rhythm feels like it is constantly shifting whilst simultaneously being hypnotic. So They Say comes straight out of the 1960s; Bjork’s vocals are soulful with a catchy melody, the familiar funk organ sound augmented by a shuffling drum beat and jangly wah guitars that get you grooving along. Broke That Spell follows a similar style but is slower and more psychedelic as Ryan Güt’s keys spearhead the song with plenty of runs that compliment the guitar.
Bread For Butter is the most energetic song on the album with a big, bluesy riff that descends in a dramatic fashion. Ya Dig is a chilled driving song, you can imagine yourself in a Cadillac watching the sandy, desert landscape pass you by. Let’s Forget brings in the celestial desert psych, acoustic guitars enclosed in lavish layers of percussion and reverb. Album closer Who Do You Love carries on the luscious psychedelia, with gentle rhythms and an evolving guitar lead line. It’s saturated in reverb and circles around your head, helping you fade into the desert sunset.
There is a reason why BRANT BJORK is the chief representative of desert rock; over his 25-year career he has rarely missed. Bougainvillea Suite is another excellent example of his musical pedigree and seemingly infinite creativity. This is a wonderfully relaxing album that channels all the best elements of 1960s funk and rock, wrapping them in a hazy desert rock package for you escape into.
Rating: 9/10
Bougainvillea Suite is set for release on October 28th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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