Available now on Bandcamp is the latest EP from Dublin-based Psychedelic Rock/ Shoegaze Band, Sun Mahshene. It’s five tracks long and is called ‘Contradictions and Tales of Fiction’.
These tracks are awash with colourful, guitar pedal driven psychedelic soundscapes. At times there is a ‘’lived in’ synth element running alongside the guitar sounds, providing plenty of colour, shade and variety. The band have a slightly edgier sound than your usual Neo-Psychedelia.
Beating at the centre of the whooshing Shoegaze Soundscape is a Punk heart and sometimes this band can be reminiscent of the Proto-Punk bands of yesteryear such as MC5, Death and The Stooges. Also, Psychedelic Rock Bands of the 60s who didn’t fit in with flower-power such as Blue Cheer come to mind.
Occasionally the vocal delivery can have a soulful snarl almost 50s in cadence, not unlike Andy Cairns of Therapy? or Glen Danzig of the Misfits. These are true songs though, infectious numbers wrapped up in blanket of psych-rock. Some tunes are rockier and noisier, such as ‘Leave This City’ or fuzzy yet ethereal, slow burning anthems like ‘This Girl I Know’. The lyrics are always thoughtful and thought provoking, delivered with emotion and sincerity.
There can be a self-assured swagger to in the tunes at times, such as ‘Ride the Waves’. The production really captures the essence of a fuzzy, yet dreamlike sound, at times capturing the studio presence of bands as diverse as The Heads, The WereFrogs and Mudhoney. The EP ends on a swirling, trance-like, psychedelic sing-a-long, ‘Demons Gold’. With it’s duelling Piano and feedback-guitar, as the fuzz decays it heralds the end of an EP that will have the listener wanting more.
