Review: Turtle Skull ‘Being Here’
So, Turtle Skull, who hail from the East Coast of Australia in New South Wales, deal in some genuinely authentic-sounding psych rock with their latest album Being Here that’s out now through Copper Feast Records and Art As Catharsis. This is a new line-up of the band as well, with the addition of Ally Gradon, who tickles the ivories along with adding vocals.
Kicking off with some scorching muff-tone on the title track, it sets the tone for the rest of the album. Moody bass throbs from Julian Frese, and suitably ripping drums lay a sturdy spine for the rest of the band to supply the meat to. Melodic and slick as well, it leaves no doubt about where Turtle Skull reside artistically.
Into The Sun (no, not a cover of the legendary tune by Hang Dai AD!) has a warm, hallucinogenic vibe but hits some slightly more turbulent weather about halfway through before winding out with the more potent riffage on this release. Bourgeoisie has a simple guitar lick but slowly gets filled out with the rest of the instrumentation. Overall, the song gets fuller and chunkier as it progresses and is the stand-out track on Being Here. Charlie Gradon’s pounding drums get a solid workout on this.
The anthemic It Starts With Me has a martial vibe to it. Some mangled guitarwork from Dean McLeod threads through the more jarring and angular parts of the song. Heavy As Hell is back to the more hypnotic style, with the evocative lyrics ‘Heading for an iceberg, in the dead of night’ juxtaposing the dreamlike mood while Modern Mess continues the gentle waves, musically.
genuinely authentic-sounding psych rock…
Moon & Tide winds up the album. It falls short of ‘official epic song length’ but nonetheless is close to ten minutes in duration. Opening with an almost spiritual intro and some combined vocals, it meanders along before dropping into a slightly heftier tone with some classic sounding organ work. The pace quickens ever so slightly as they move along before slowly winding out with swathes of white noise.
Turtle Skull blends their ethereal melodies with sultry, and occasionally ragged and barbed riffs. Karmic enrichment, lives and loves, and a touch of the metaphysical seem to make up the lyrical content of the songs. Each tune is layered with sonic stratoscapes, blended by throbbing rhythms and guitar, with three of the four members contributing vocals as well.
Stylistically, there isn’t a great deal of light and dark on Being Here. The songs are good, although I wouldn’t have minded some variation from time to time. All up, it is a neat album, but it would have worked better for me if it were just an EP.
Label: Copper Feast Records | Art As Catharsis
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: El Jefe
