Review: White Hills ‘Beyond This Fiction’
When we last heard from White Hills, New York City’s long-running, uber-prolific, mind-warping, psychedelic rock duo, consisting of Dave W. on guitar, vocals and synths and Ego Sensation on drums, bass and additional vocals, they had just released The Revenge Of Heads On Fire in 2022, a re-examination of some tracks from their 2007 LP Heads On Fire, mixed with newer songs.
Beyond This Fiction, released on the band’s own Heads On Fire Industries, is their latest album of all new studio material and centers around the ideas of writer/philosopher Joseph Campbell, whose apparent philosophy boils down to thinking for oneself and forging one’s own path, despite the pressures from ‘normal’ society. Fair enough, and certainly an excellent way to navigate life, especially if you’re a restless, long-running, psychedelic rock band overflowing with creativity.
With that, Beyond This Fiction enters the listener’s consciousness with Throw It Up In The Air, a tripped-out, crawling, psych-track that is anchored by Sensation’s fuzzy, thudding bass line, allowing for plenty of space for Dave W.’s patented guitar histrionics. However, this is White Hills, and as they have done so well for so long, the band’s psychedelic, aural approach is deftly stabilized with melody, as twinkling synth and Sensation’s ethereal vocals wash over the dissonance.
Clear As Day also features a bassline and beat that is easily hammered into the listener’s psyche as Dave W. gets plenty weird with the vocals and guitar skronks that are again counter-balanced with some catchy vocals in the chorus. First single, Killing Crimson is all at once weird-as-shit and catchy as hell, boasting more fuzzy, chest-rattling bass, trippy sounds and plenty of odd-ball guitar noodling.
I found myself easily getting lost in the band’s sonics, with repeated listens offering new sounds each time…
Elsewhere, Fiend, also released as a single, and for this reviewer, the sonic anchor of this album finds White Hills in super-weird mode as the track reminds me of some long-lost soundtrack to a bizarre, ‘70s New York, mind-warp movie. Featuring all sorts of synth effects and distorted, echo-y vocals, Fiend also finds itself held together by Sensation’s ever rock-steady bass playing, which again allows Dave W. to fly his aural freak flag to his heart’s content.
Closer is a synth and effects trip-out that serves as an interlude to the way-out-there The Awakening, wherein Dave W., sounding like he’s in a gravitational pull, waxes poetic on the universe’s comings and goings as waves of synth and effects swirl around him, all while setting up closer and title track, Beyond This Fiction, which is as cool, and epic of a song as White Hills have in their vast catalog. There are plenty of spacey, catchy, harmonized vocals with Sensation’s airy vocals floating over the top, layers of effects and guitars, and I’m pretty sure some sitar screeches for optimal psychedelic effect.
White Hills once again worked with Martin Bisi, a New York recording legend who’s worked with bands like Sonic Youth and Swans, and the sound, while obviously aiming for a psychedelic, distorted approach, is crisp and clear. I absorbed Beyond This Fiction mostly with headphones on and I found myself easily getting lost in the band’s sonics, with repeated listens offering new sounds each time. Beyond This Fiction is a fantastic, psychedelic rock album that slots in nicely with White Hills immense back catalog and I’m certain, as time goes by, it will go down as one of their best releases.
Label: Heads On Fire Industries
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Scribed by: Martin Williams
