Reviewed by Nathan Ford
Glaswegians The Fast Camels return with their second album "Dead Rooms & Butterfly Dreams", and with a much different line up than their first album.
"Dead Rooms..." is an album that obviously benefits from the time and care that has been put into its creation, and despite many obvious touchstones and influences, is a confident statement that never sounds derivative no matter which influence is being channeled at any given moment.
With a sound that comfortably embraces the psychedelia and freakbeat of yesteryear, with more recent strands of U.K alternative music, opener "Bruisy Bedlock" does a great job of straddling eras, with a vintage sounding R&B vamp (think Them), converging with some delicious jangly harmonies (ala The Coral), while also finding room for some brooding early Verve style psychedelia. This ADHD approach might sound quite jarring on paper, but the actuality is perfection, with all of the diverse bits and pieces slotting together perfectly in a way that would make Pete Townshend (who is also often evoked here) proud.
"Penny Pinching Debt Collector" continues this eclectic approach starting out as a twisted, intimate acoustic vignette before piling on huge layers of freakbeat guitars of the most gorgeous tone, with some marvelously controlled feedback creating an ethereal outro, confidently stepping into psychedelic territory.
Elsewhere you'll find huge anthemic choruses delivered with conviction ("Park Day"), timeless songcraft ("The Ballad of Berty & Johann"), and huge windmilling guitars that alternate between Townshend style recklessness, and the moody Barretesque tinge of standout "The Camera Assassin", which drags "Astronomy Domine" back into the light and gives it a sound seeing to.
We like.
Available direct from The Fast Camels here.
Download from iTunes or sample tracks here.
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