There is something about the genre of psychedelic that carries this kind of compelling fascination: it is a strange thing that is difficult to grasp at times, like a cloud that floats above you yet it floats downstream all the same in the skies. This bit of fascination exposes itself in raw moments that are at times so subtle yet the impact is still felt.
Marmalade Knives’ debut album Amnesia has these moments and other tales that wrap around your head in waves and strings that dangle before you. You pull the end, yet it entangles itself into more knots and more twisting turns. And where does the rope end - where does the path lead you?
Down the road you go, to, perhaps, Wonderland - or to, perhaps, the fuzzed-up hellscape of Las Vegas from Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The West seems to have always been a land of mystery, of mystique adventures and a dark sort of unknown fascination that obscures the entire being in a hazy mist. The dark side ignited and glistened by the city lights of Las Vegas that only heightened and encouraged to illuminate the twisted path of Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas. And the Californian trails of Marmalada Knives are illuminated by the same sort of lights.
Amnesia starts off subtle, but the roar starts to build in the background. It is instantly strange and beautiful; haunting and fascinating in equal manner. The music starts to shift you in waves as a mantra washes over you on the first track “Amnesia”. The hypnosis of the ocean-music calls to you from the pit of fascination. And you find yourself drawn closer, closer, closer . . .
Until it all stops, if only for a moment.
Then the roar returns. Second track “Rivuleting” launches out at you. Like the opening track, it starts out subtle - but when it launches, it launches. The bass groove and the guitar form such a wonderful hypnosis of a melody that you can tell even from the beginning that you are in for a wonderful jam track. The subtle beginnings make way for several melody lines to cross through and dash across the track and across your ears. The percussion is great and holds the track together throughout all the strange, shifting elements that pass by. At some points in the track, it allows for the guitar to shine and shock and splatter, rising above and soaring in another melody line. . .but at a little over halfway across the track, it all recoils and returns to the hypnosis, growing pensive as it concludes.
“The Best-Laid Plans…” has an accompanying music video that displays desert imagery and psychedelic overlays. The groove on this track is incredible, and this song was one of the first to stand out to me off of the album. It is just wonderful to close your eyes and let the guitar and drums wash over you in waves of sound.
“Rebel Coryell'' sizzles its way across the atmosphere. The opening notes are just beautiful. “Rebel Coryell” exhibits the beauty side of psychedelic music, where the sounds you hear are something outside of mainstream and allow for the music to be what it is and needs to be - in this case, another hypnotic exhibition of driving grooves and fascination found in the more subtle side of the track, like the organ melody that creeps its way into your ears. It is one of those later album tracks that took a bit for me to appreciate, but it is another side of the band that needs to be heard.
“Xayante” is a welcome back to the groove and hard rock side of psychedelic. This track may have been the original inspiration behind my western comparisons. For whatever reason, the sound of this track is so wonderfully western-y to my ears. This may sound like it would be a song that is out of place on an album like this, but it is simply a return to the groove that tracks like “Rivuleting” initiated.
As the album winds down, you start to get the idea of what to expect: a couple of nice ‘jam’ songs where you can relax and sink into the groove - but Marmalade Knives still has a few surprises. One of these comes in the form of the sizzling guitar on “Ez-Ra” and the flicker and flutter of organ accompaniment. It is great to hear and carries a very late 1960s vibe that you would expect from western rock bands of those times - only, of course, you are hearing that sound in the modern century so it is an interesting juxtaposition of modern meets past.
The jam track that is found early on in the album “Rivuleting” has its companion track as the conclusion. “Astrology Domine” is a nearly 10-minute jam that brings back the roar. It is beautifully strange with a powerful, biting guitar, a dreamy middle section, and an all-encompassing sense that this band knows exactly what they are doing and it is very much a conscious thing to set out and do exactly what they know. And what Marmalade Knives knows is how to write a great jam and keep your attention across several jam tracks. Therefore, as the pipeline carries down, Marmalade Knives knows how to make an album of such tracks and encourage that strange sort of beauty that comes only with psychedelic music.
Sometimes the path you know is not the path that leads to exciting music like this. Sometimes, you must travel off the path and open your ears to the sound of the strange. And sometimes, once you’ve traveled off the path, you find oddities and gems like Marmalade Knives. So, if you are in need of your next soundtrack for the desert or just want to hear some strange but fascinating music, just put on Marmalade Knives’ debut album Amnesia, and let the wondering begin.
Comments