Pioneering Post Punk
While everyone has been focused on the bigger cities of the Northeast like New York City and Philadelphia, one of the most exciting music scenes has emerged in the quaint, scenic, and utterly hip Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. The gradual chill that begins in September and hits full force by the end of October there is the perfect atmosphere for hazy, mopey post punk, and with their debut EP, Alien, Psychic Blood has cashed in on just that. A short, simple and super fuzzy record, Psychic Blood has kept up the statistically improbable trend of seeing a genre thrive despite a seemingly endless supply of records in a short period of time. Everywhere you look there’s another band putting out a lo-fi post punk record, but Psychic Blood still manages to stand out and make an impression with Alien.
Alien starts out on a pretty energetic, nearly chaotic, note with “Devil Dreamin’,” where we are introduced to the muffled but notably anguished sounding voice of singer Jason Vachula. A glance at the press release for this record gives insight to the emotions behind such uneasy sounding music. Inspired by a near death experience and an overall feeling of alienation from not only the world but from yourself, Alien covers feelings that will likely speak to many of its listeners.
By “Blur World,” things are starting to seem a bit stuck, sounding a bit too much like a few other things you’ve heard from other bands; however, Psychic Blood saves themselves with the doomy “Waves Will Kill You,” a highlight on the record that brings with it the return of the chaos felt earlier on. Adding a heavier element to their music was a wise choice, and hopefully one that the band will expand on in future recordings. The final song, cleverly titled “Endless,” provides a great closing to an album that is sure to make your skin crawl from just how much you relate to it. Their ability to pack so much energy into something so dark sounding is truly impressive and will help Psychic Blood continue to stand out among their peers…so many peers.
Alien is a really impressive debut for a band that has already been blowing people away for a few years now. If Psychic Blood continues to build on the momentum from this record, they will hopefully be doing great things alongside some of the other big names in the current post punk scene. One does start wonder how many more records like this can come out before things start to get a bit over-saturated, but we can rest assured knowing that Psychic Blood will likely not be the band to do it.
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