ALBUM REVIEW: The Long Morrow – Big Scenic Nowhere
Relative newcomers to the psychedelic music scene, California’s BIG SCENIC NOWHERE have made a significant impact since their inception back in 2019. This could be due to its superstar line up that brings together members from the likes of YAWNING MAN, KYUSS, OPETH, FU MANCHU and MONOLORD to name a few. Given the rich and diverse musical backgrounds that have influenced BIG SCENIC NOWHERE, the band effortlessly mixes epic melodies with prog melancholy to create thought provoking, poignant and dramatic pieces of music. The Long Morrow is their fourth release in three years and, alongside 2020 EP Lavender Blues, is the product of a three hour jam session back in November 2019. The band are prolific writers and The Long Morrow is but a mere snippet of their total creative output over this period of time.
The Long Morrow feels like a natural continuation of the band’s previous releases, as if part of an unofficial trilogy. It takes on the mantle of the evolving middle section of the story, where problems and challenges arrive that seem insurmountable, whereas Vision Beyond Horizon serves as the ball busting, hard-hitting introduction, with the Lavender Blues EP acting as the bridge in between. However, the album, although reflective in nature, constantly feels like it is building to a grander finale. With this in mind, the listener is only experiencing what can only be perceived as a fragment of a greater narrative, which only adds to the album’s intrigue whilst igniting curiosity.
Channelling old school grooves inspired by the likes of LED ZEPPELIN and HUSKER DU, and with the songs themselves being formed in the jam room, BIG SCENIC NOWHERE know how to craft feeling. With an innate ability to push and pull the songs in any direction, the band offer something that is incredibly refreshing, outside the world of precisely timed beats and riffs placed on a grid. Every musician feels locked in, focused and inspired, their captivating performances luring you into their heavy psych world with incredible ease.
Compared to the band’s previous album Vision Beyond Horizon, The Long Morrow is less frantic and finely balanced. With the progressive nature of the riffs aiding the utilisation of intricate dynamic shifts, the album takes on its own unique serenity. As tension is wound up and calmed down, time feels arbitrary and you are cocooned in the album’s delightfully intoxicating atmosphere of gentle melody and hard-hitting riffs. Each song stands out individually, but as one continuing piece it is rich and diverse, harking back to the artistic core of what an album is. Lavender Bleu serves as a continuation of a theme; a new take on Lavender Blues, it uses the same fragile melancholy whilst weaving in a heavier, moodier atmosphere. Murder Klipp stands out as the darkest song on the album, honing in on the band’s prog tendencies with an odd time signature which gives the almost chromatic melody an intriguingly enigmatic quality.
However, each song serves as a build up for The Long Morrow, the near 20-minute epic dreamscape that consolidates all the elements of the previous songs. The title track really is a journey into the melancholic strangeness that BIG SCENIC NOWHERE have made their own. It’s an elegant composition that feels like it has as many phases as the moon. To elaborate, it is rare that you can return to a song like this without feeling something completely different each time. Whether it is getting caught up in the thrill of the song’s solos or its beautifully atmospheric psych sections, your consciousness moves with the song’s stages, as if you’re journeying through time itself.
Despite the short amount of time that has passed between the band’s inception and now, BIG SCENIC NOWHERE are fast becoming heavyweights in the psych/desert rock scene. The Long Morrow is just the beginning of their rise to the top of the mystic red rocks that adorn the deserts of the United States. A shining example that jamming still has an important place within today’s music landscape.
Rating: 8/10
The Long Morrow is set for release on January 14th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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