ALBUM REVIEW: Postcards From The Asylum – Jason Bieler & The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra
Sometimes it’s hard to see past the serious things in the world. Music is reflective of both the good and the bad, after all, and when things get bad then songs can start to get ponderous on the nature of just how bad things are. Thankfully, on the other hand, we have projects like JASON BIELER & THE BARON VON BIELSKI ORCHESTRA available to pop on their big hats and goggles and laugh at the little things with.
Their last jaunt into our collective consciousness, 2021’s Songs For The Apocalypse, was a surprisingly entertaining hit and showed that Bieler himself had lost none of his guitarist, vocal or eccentricity chops since the SAIGON KICK days. Though he did pick up a substantial amount of prog from somewhere. Probably from that scamp Devin Townsend. New effort Postcards From The Asylum is a bit of a beast at an hour and 15 minutes, but can it capture the lightning in a jar feel of the rambunctious debut?
It certainly starts out in a ballpark, even if all the opening tracks are spread out a bit on the mounds. Opener Bombay is a straight tone-setting anthem, packed with layered harmonies and synth flairs that more than demand a singalong. Meanwhile, Heathens as an entity could have been lifted wholesale from the late 80s, a glam/punk rock mixture that cheeses along at a carefree pace replete with big guitar and no lack of imagined big hair. Mexico is a silly number about sex and drugs presented as a soulful ballad that straddles the line between both without making either element too cringe-inducing; it’s a remarkably faithful recreation of any 1990s BON JOVI crooner but laced with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility that heads off any dirge-iness at the pass.
And then, just as you think you’re in for over an hour of choice cuts from one particular sort of dad’s record collection, Flying Monkeys drops in for a quick fever dream. A mad bit of experimentation featuring THE ARISTOCRATS’ Marco Minneman with a beat that can only be described as “rascally”, it’s a sharp shock to the senses that introduces the prog elements with car-crash subtlety. Bieler loves his prog, evidently, as there’s something from every era here – the lovely, drum-heavy Deep Blue being a particular RUSH-tinged highlight.
Meanwhile, the album continues to pull loose strings and turn random dials and generally seems to be having a good time all on its own. Bear Sedatives wraps a jaunty entertainer’s jingle around a crunchy hard rock record about depression killing the dinosaurs, another highlight of the slightly macabre sense of humour present throughout. Sic Riff brings exactly what the title promises in a much more metal affair underscored by some of the daftest lyrics on the album, while Todd Kerns lends a recognisable bass hand in harmony-fest Beneath The Waves. The word “fun” was clearly written on the creative whiteboard and circled a few times and that’s exactly what Postcards is – backed up by no small amount of seriously impressive technical firepower that drives the whole experience forwards.
A 15 song odyssey of oddities that is as slickly presented as it is disarmingly silly, Postcards From The Asylum serves up a genuinely enthralling, well-developed showcase. It’s a melodic force of its own special nature that eschews such commonalities like order and sense, but it’s done so bloody well from start to end that you simply won’t care. If you love hooky, well written songs and you like every rock sub-genre from 1971 to 1996, this is a roller-coaster you’re exactly the right height to ride – just watch out for flying monkeys.
Rating: 8/10
Postcards from the Asylum is out April 14th via Baron Von Bielski Records.
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