How can you describe psychedelic music? Is it like crazy musicianship with completely different frenetic moods being thrown at you unexpectedly, with vocals disconnected from the song that when it ends you say WTF happened? Captain Beef Heart anyone? Or maybe we think psychedelic is exactly the opposite. Is in the long instrumental sections, the trance that catches you and takes you to different places. That mix of distant sounds involved in a constant loop evoking ethereal feelings. Adding a sweet drum beat in the background glazed by a deep bass sound and the distorted Pink Floydish guitar on the top (with 99% of the guitar pedal board turned on) and in some cases, the sacrilege of not using vocals. The objective is to create a  trance that takes you out of the reality somehow making your mind wonder. That's the base of a cool psychedelic song for me.

Or maybe psychedelic is just a style applied in music and many other forms of art. But whatever does it mean to you, if it is in a song, it should get a reaction from you somehow. It should grab your hand and take you to an adventure that only exists in your mind. Love, war, sadness, triumph, nature, space and even questions can be expressed musically without the need of a vocal (sacrilege!). Enough material to create a history is at your hands musically  if you know how to express this in your play. The band is Yawning Balch with their entitled volume one album. I'm still going to call it an album despite having only 3 long songs. This is an effort by guitar player Bob Balch (Fu Manchu) with the band Yawning Man. A very good result for a 5 hour jam.

The album opens with the long tune "Dreaming with Eyes Open" that starts the journey and keeps the same somber and a little stoner mood  with a pinch of guitar dexterity throughout the over 20 minutes duration with little to no variations. A solid bass with the offbeat drum keeps it grounded for the guitar to dance  around it, supported by the discreet keys in the background. It does have more than a hint of the obvious Pink Floyd and it will fit perfectly in any scifi short animation. However, it may lack one thing that I believe is essential for this style of music, or for any...The storytelling. The song cannot be part of just one long journey in the same chapter of the adventure. Especially without the vocals, the music has to speak a little more by changing keys, chords, tempos and evoking other feelings for the listener provoking different reactions without loosing the psychedelic touches. This song could use a little more changes in the storytelling to take us to  different places, otherwise it gets repetitive. A good effort, but so much more could be explored. These ideas may not come in a 5 hour jam sometimes. Inspiration is a bitch. You may get an entire great song in 5 minutes or in 5 years. No shame in revisiting riffs with different ideas at a later stage before recording.

The album follows with Cemetery Glitter and this one has a little more of the changes in storytelling that was missed in the previous one. With a Blade Runner cabaret soundtrack vibe, guided by a solid drum beat, powerful bass and well executed solos, the song attempts to take you places despite being still a little bit shy. Devin Townsend  comes to mind in terms of changing moods during hypnotic riffs and this one has an interesting feeling to it. This song for me is the best of the album and the one that opens more ideas of where this genre and the partnership can go. It has a trance that mysteriously hooks you but still lacks direction making the journey incomplete. Long songs are like long movies. It needs different moods.

The album has solid guitar work on all songs with a variety of effects being well used without overpowering the music. Solid drums, bass and good musicianship throughout. Keyboard could be used more for melodies and big key changes instead of staying more in the background. One of the cool things about music is giving a background instrument something to say in the song. "Low Pressure Valley" closes the album with more of the same Floydish mood and same bass lines for the entire song. Guitar solos are great and very important in my opinion, but without the necessary key and chord progression changes in the rhythmic part, the famous " but wait, how about if we change to this" bringing the song to a different light, or an epic middle innuendo part, or perhaps an even darker and somber mood. Different feelings need to be present in every song if you want the listener to wonder in your dream. The song is solid in its proposal of putting you in a different place, The issue is that you do not leave that place.

Overall a good effort that may present us with even better results in the future. Perhaps with more time to throw ideas around with at least a 1 week's worth of jams next time.  Tame Impala, Porcupine Tree, Yes and even King Crimson may be a good fountain to drink from. A shout out for the fine cover design by John McGill. If I had a Blue Barrel dissolving under my tongue, this review would be quite different. I would probably have visited other dimensions while listening to the album. But since LSD doesn't match with my cholesterol pills, I would prefer to feel the songs taking me somewhere different without any artificial means. Psychedelic songs are often supported by amazing video images that greatly contribute to the experience. You can see them in your head (on acid), on concerts, videos etc. However, without the help of the lysergic images, the song still has to tell the story on its own.