The Circle And The Blue Door
Purson
•
May 9, 2013

It's never a bad idea to keep connections. In HEXVESSEL's upcoming EP, "Iron Marsh", Rosalie Cunningham crafts a piece as a guest musician. It is there I decided to do a bit of research and ended up finding PURSON, a relatively fresh act. In the sense fraternal twins get a grasp of life experienced in a short momentary glimpse after birth, they are apart but incidentally are exposed to similar frets and woes as days prolong. This story genders a boy and a girl who each have their own band to support and sculpt. Similarities are seen and derive from a path of the same lineage and influences. PURSON is many things but in the storm's eye, they declare themselves as Vaudeville Carny Psych. In the world of subjective experience, I will grant them that, however if you want to get technical they lie in the rut of Psychedelic Rock, Heavy Metal, and among other things.
Hopefully we are all familiar with DEEP PURPLE. Even with the little exposure I've had, they are one of my preferred musicians to listen to. Jon Lord might be gone from this physical realm but alas his ectoplasm his kindled in the apprentice-like phalanges of Samuel Shove. It's appreciated as the skeleton of his ideas, but just as an apprentice is bestowed the knowledge and wisdom of a dear mentor, it springs forward with its own pace, mood, and impressionism.
Before you are alert, you are seemingly unconscious. Thus "Wake Up Sleepy Head" is a piece to slip you away from your joyous hibernation from a day full of dread to the onset of another marrow. A fellow female life organism shakes and speaks to you as you lounge in REM sleep. You are stuck in between worlds, as it appears to be hallucinations clouding your judgment. The voice above speaks with a distorted echo among broken and smeared mirrors. You hear the crackles and acknowledge your gloomy awakening.
"The Contract", "Leaning on a Bear", "Well Spoiled Machine", and "Sapphire Ward" are all apparently influenced by DEEP PURPLE. "The Contract" shares its leanings toward the pre-exposures to HEXVESSEL, acoustically subtle and beautiful, breathing nature and letting life take over. These folk tendencies bind to a Psychedelic Rock sound. It combines the carbon dating of past ancestry formation of all things made of stardust in its purest form and the modern associability of using one's experiences to convey abstract art before the eyes of the curious. "Well Spoiled Machine" is a rhythmic down-to-earth beat combing both DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH subservience. The riffs are simple but very effective in holding one's foot down and tapping it against the force of gravity and levering it down. The next number in line, "Sapphire Ward" amps up what the previous exposed into the catchiest and most interactive song of the lot.
Sometimes a musician can be so enveloped in what they're doing that they have the ability to paint a landscape step by step as you listen. This is exactly the notion Barnaby Maddick took. All the guys were great but there was something about Maddick that caused you to take a second look and smile in retrospect. It wasn't about heart-stopping talent rather taking a perspective and truly enjoying in his endeavors, the feeling pure joy and soul. It was like remembering why you loved music in the first place and its initiative is shown. "Sailor's Wife's Lament" had a soundscape of the sea brushing against the edge of a dock and seagulls flocking over the horizon as the sun begins to set. Maddick gave the impression of coal miners stocking their load onto their intact messy yacht. It takes off into the mysterious sea and we hear more of its journey on "Tempest and the Tide". There is no better track than this one to show you the vastness of the sea. Unlike some acts who rely on cheesy gimmicks and novelty pirate gags, "Tempest and the Tide" is vouched in the unknowing, the mischievous shadows on the sea's surface, and longing discovery. You just may find the devil of the deep blue sea.
"Rocking Horse" uses the gentle vibrations of a tambourine. As you waltz with the quadruped, the influences of delta blues (a style I like to refer as the old western blues, think Muddy Waters) show themselves. "Tragic Catastrophe" sums up the splendid contrast of what made "The Circle And The Blue Door" a magnificent debut album. The fine line of acoustics supporting the assertively-variable Psychedelic Rock swings.
9 / 10
Almost Perfect

"The Circle And The Blue Door" Track-listing:
1. Wake Up Sleepy Head
2. The Contract
3. Spiderwood Farm
4. Sailor's Wife's Lament
5. Leaning on a Bear
6. Tempest and the Tide
7. Mavericks and Mystics
8. Well Spoiled Machine
9. Sapphire Ward
10. Rocking Horse
11. Tragic Catastrophe
Purson Lineup:
Rosalie Cunningham - Vocals, Lead Guitar
George Hudson - Guitars, BVs
Samuel Shove - Organ, Mellotron, Wurlitzer
Barnaby Maddick - Bass, BVs
Jack Hobbs - Drums
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