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CD review: Black Angels ‘Phosphene Dream’
Black Angels
‘Phosphene Dream’
(Blue Horizon)
Grade: A-
Is it possible to strike a complimentary tone while saying that an album seems longer than it really is? Probably not, but I’m going to try. “Phosphene Dream,” the third full-length release from Austin psych rockers the Black Angels, clocks in at a spare 36 minutes and change but has a surprising array of musical components among its 10 songs that never seem rushed or underdeveloped. That’s a great development for a band whose first two albums were pleasant and engaging head trips full of echo, reverb and the rest of your basic psych audio toolkit, but never really moved at more than a plod in their pacing. Here though you have a nimble, jangly rocker like “Sunday Afternoon” right next to “River of Blood,” a menacing bit of rumble and paranoia (“The rebels were all shocked to find no food or guns in those mines. You’re sitting ducks!”) that’s the hardest thing the band has ever recorded and will acquit them well when they head out on the road soon with drone rockers Black Mountain. With all the new sonic adornments here, there’s still plenty of gently chugging freakouts that will keep the band’s loyal fans happy without sounding stagnant or out of ideas, which is about the best you can ask of a group treading in these LSD-laced waters.
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