Straytones – Magic Green River Swimmin’ & Stunning Tarzanka Experience
Release Date: 27th August 2021
Label: Robustfellow
Bandcamp
Genre: Psychedelic Garage Surf Rock
FFO: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Night Beats, Fuzz, Ty Segall.
Review By: Paul Franklin
Ukrainian psych/garage rock outfit Straytones release their latest album with the intention of evoking warm memories of a careless summer spent on the riverbank, “Our new album carries a lot of stories replete with a variety of colours, but we believe all of them perfectly fit into the Kyiv summer entourage.”
Described as a vibrant blend of psychedelic and surf rock imbued with the spirit of 60s hippies and heavily influenced by modern neo-psychedelic vibes, in all honesty, on that basis, I might have given this one a miss. Luckily chief metallurgical epidemiologist Dr. Dave had sent me a few tracks as options for my next review, including Super Hot! which features on this album. It really piqued my interest. I hadn’t heard of Straytones and I certainly hadn’t heard anything quite like this album before.
You see, what the band do effortlessly is take that 60s hippy, psychedelia and scuzz it up with some Scandinavian style garage rock. Think Jefferson Airplane being ambushed by The Hives in a dimly lit back alley. The track Delusion is perhaps the perfect example, starting off as a hazy dreamscape it lulls you into a false sense of security before it ends up in a frenzy of squealing, fuzzed up guitar. That’s the subtle trick they play repeatedly, you think you’re listening to a trippy summer tune, but then realise you’re nodding along to a storming dirty, garage riff. Just listen to opener Fire-Fire! And tell me your foot wasn’t tapping along at the end. The best analogy I can come up with is, imagine you have booked a clown for a children’s party, whilst the parents are in the room watching it’s all about balloon animals and sock puppets, then the second the parents leave the room, Coco turns to the kids and says “right, who wants to play with some fireworks?”
A couple of the tracks show their hand from the off, the aforementioned Super Hot!, which launches straight out of the garage door with some fearsome surf riffs that sounds like Dick Dale making a deal with the devil. In contrast Oh Sweet Seeds is the most laid back, sweeping offering, although still not immune to the lure of the jangling guitar. Only on the last track Magical River do things get a bit too experimental and ‘weirdy-beardy’ for my taste, but it’s only three minutes, so not a biggie.
In conclusion, I was intrigued enough by the first track I heard to want to check out the rest of the record, and I’m glad I did. It’s not an immediate favourite, but the fact that the more I listen to it, the more it wraps me up in those warm, sunny vibes makes me optimistic that I may soon be looking for a river to partake in some tarzanka-jumping!*
*It’s a type of Ukrainian rope swing.
(3.5 / 5)
