Review: Land Mammal ‘Slow Your Mind’
Land Mammal is made up of Will Weise and Kinsley August and is based in Texas. Will plays guitar, sitar, and writes the riffs that will move your feet and make your head bob along. Kinsley handles vocals, lyric writing, and aids Will in composing these great tunes. Their album, Slow Your Mind, is amazing, and after hearing just a couple of tracks, I knew they’d captured something magical; mixing psychedelia, blues, some stoney vibes, classic rock, and even a bit of grunge flavoring.
These songs show a strength of character that most two-man groups aren’t able to attain. They, along with a host of special guests, crafted an album that pulls in influences from artists like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Black Crowes, and more. They even enlisted one of the Crowes, Isaiah Mitchell, to play a guitar solo on the opening track, Psychedelic Hand.
We’ll start with what I feel is their best track, Grow, which is the fifth track out of ten. The track embodies everything that I love about this genre; variety, feeling, and tasteful playing. Will seems to conjure the sounds of Stevie Ray Vaughn with his guitar parts/tone, Hendrix and Pearl Jam as well. They’re sweetly pretty and add the perfect layers for Kinsley to shine on. His vocal parts show a level of skill that will grab your attention, never letting go until the final notes of the track. This one is pure perfection in my opinion.
Psychedelic Hand starts the album, exhibiting the power of the riff from the very get-go. The music becomes low-key when Kinsley comes in, and that sense of dynamics serves the song quite well. Kinsley is an amazing vocalist and has a variety of styles to pull from. There’s a lot of power to what he does on this track, and his held out notes are flawless in their execution.
Ring The Bell has the same basic format as Psychedelic Hand. The difference here is in the groove, which is heavily reliant on the guitar parts; particularly during the intro section. Kinsley is the highlight once again, I feel as if he puts a lot of time and thought into his performance, as his execution is moving, and perfect.
mixing psychedelia, blues, some stoney vibes, classic rock, and even a bit of grunge flavoring…
I assume you all know what a Sitar sounds like, but even if you don’t, the intro to Full Ascension will change that for the better. It has a Led Zeppelin vibe, due mainly to the use of Sitar. I love Zeppelin, and Kinsley shows a bit of Robert Plant here. The Zeppelin influences don’t fade as the track goes on either. There are many reasons to compare this song to that storied band, and none of them are bad.
If you like Jimi Hendrix, then you’ll immediately grasp onto Sing Me A Song. The guitars are definitely reminiscent of something like Hey Joe, or even Pearl Jam’s Yellow Ledbetter. On top of these gorgeous guitars is Kinsley, who seems to be using a Chris Cornell influence for his stellar performance on this track. This song is mellow, utterly beautiful, and rivals Grow for my favorite track.
As I made my way through Slow Your Mind, I felt that Will and Kinsley captured an old school vibe, more classic rock and blues based than some of their peers. I’m 46, and I grew up listening to players like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmie Vaughn, some Hendrix through my parents, tons of stuff from the 60s and 70s rock music, and Land Mammal would’ve fit right in during those eras. To me, this makes them special in ways that other bands aren’t able to grab and puts them on my list of best albums of the year.
So go to Bandcamp and give Land Mammal your attention, they’re one of those bands that truly deserve it. They show off diversity, dynamics, groove, and superior songwriting abilities; and are easily within the ten best albums of 2021. Enjoy!!!!
Label: Kozmik Artifactz
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Tom Hanno
