Bed Rugs "Rapids" Review

Released by Ample Play / Burger Records

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Ample Play continue their mission to bring you the best new psychedelic music from distant corners of the globe with the release of young Belgian band Bed Rugs.
Bed Rugs are refreshing in that they don't slavishly replicate the sounds of the sixties, and seem just as indebted to the Elephant 6 aesthetic (particularly the Olivia Tremor Control) as they do to the Beatles generation.
Like the Olivia Tremor Control, Bed Rugs write slightly melancholy, hookladen pop songs layered in reverb, tremeloed vocals and backwards guitars that accentuate the craft evident in the songs in the first place. Or to put it more succinctly, the psychedelic elements are used not to hide weak songwriting (as some do) but to emphasize their hooks in a more colorful manner.
Speaking of color - "Rapids" is painted from a gloriously colorful palette, expertly mixed by The Bees' Paul Butler who has already proven himself to be a dab hand at this sort of substantial aural candyfloss with his own band.
"Daydream" eases you in with a lovely piece of dreamy acoustic psychedelia - an "I'm Only Sleeping" for this generation which you're sure you've got the number of until it hits you with a lovely, vertigo inducing chord change. "Rapids" certainly has more than it's fair share of those 'surprise' moments, often in the shape of a devastatingly catchy chorus that seemingly comes from nowhere, one trait these songs all share.
This emphasis on concise pop gold makes "Rapids" a short sugar hit that you're sure to be wanting more of, even after the comparatively epic comedown of multi-part closer "Tell".
A hugely promising beginning.

Available soon on vinyl here, digital here and cassette here.