I obviously move around many selected genres and enjoy them all, but the love of my life is Psych Pop. No other genre brings the past into the future like it. Essentially Guitar Pop, but with many twists and turns. It may sound very second half of the 60s to some, but that is a failure to appreciate the full scope of arrangements and sheer melody.
Possibly, my favourite band in the genre was The Jigsaw Seen. I don't get to listen to the old these days due to the amount that I deal with in the new, but I still listen to that beloved band. They had largely gone by the time I started IDHAS, but I still managed to sneak in their magnificent compilation, For The Discriminating Completist.
Mainstays of the quartet were founders Dennis Davison and Jonathan Lea. Whereas Lea went on to play with his heroes of the past, Davison, the vocalist, kept the new Psych Pop candle burning with excellent effect.
His 2020 debut album, The Book Of Strongman,Creaturefeature was in our Best Albums Of The Year, the follow up EP, Creaturefeature, was in our Best EPs of 2023. The gaps plugged by killer singles. Now we have his second album and it is wonderful.
There are interesting diversions, the splendid Invisiblia may be the most pop that Davison ever gets, sounding more late 80s / early 90s, all riff and joyous melody. 536 AD skirts Prog and Winterland's Gone gets all big studio UK Beat ballad.
But it is the Psych Pop that grabs you most. Sensual Summer, Is It The Medicine? and the killer single, Putting Up With People, being great examples, all very different. Sirens And Hellbenders is a corking listen and will be there in the end of year celebrations.
You can listen to and buy the album here.
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Thank you so much, Don!
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