A beautiful, psychedelic return

Following April’s re-release of The Value of Decay, former Melvin’s bassist Mark Deutrom has released an album of brand new content. The Blue Bird is a psychedelic album with minimal vocals and song lengths that vary between 1:18 and 7:03. The album consists of Deutrom on vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards and RL Hulsman on drums. There are also some guest appearances from Aaron Luck, G. Pat Harris and Joe Morales rocking the saxophone. Beyond the great music, one major piece to note about the album is the beautiful cover art, featuring a twisting vine design, an image of a bird, and Deutrom standing facing away from the viewer, creating a sense of mystery.

The album begins with “No Space,” a very brief instrumental intro song with a memorable guitar riff attached. It has a strangely western feeling to it, much like the album cover does. It also is rather trippy, adding to the feeling of mystery of the album. The next song is “Futurist Manifesto,” another instrumental song but a much more fast-paced one, showing off Deutrom’s musical skills and showing the diversity of the songs on the album.

The first song with vocals is the aptly titled “O Ye Of Little Faith,” as the first three songs consisted of varying instrumental pieces. “O Ye Of Little Faith” is an angry sounding song, with harsh vocals, a loud guitar and a catchy drumbeat. It’s a long song, and about halfway through the song changes completely, becoming more psychedelic as Deutrom’s vocals sound more distorted. It’s an eclectic song full of various musical styles.

Some of the other notable songs on The Blue Bird are “Hell Is A City,” “They Have Won” and “The Happiness Machine.” “Hell Is A City” sounds like it’s influenced by Pink Floyd, as the drumbeat and keyboard have the same smooth but trippy qualities that work very well with the spaced-out vocals. “They Have Won” sounds similar to “Hell Is A City” and is another very Pink Floyd-esque song. Deutrom has become a modern master of psychedelic rock, and these two songs show that he has earned that title by a combination of both the old and the new. “The Happiness Machine” is very different from the other two songs, as it has a more hard rock sound to it. The most notable aspect of this song is the wavering guitar, which rings out throughout the entire beginning.

The Blue Bird ends with “Nothing Out There.” From the start, the song fits the title perfectly. It has a dreamlike quality to it, and Deutrom’s vocals are very soothing and almost melodic. The lyrics tell the listener “Don’t explore / Don’t investigate” because there’s nothing out there. It’s easily the most psychedelic song on the album, and it ties it up perfectly.

The Blue Bird is available for purchase and streaming now.