Psych-country rock trips don’t come any more sublime than this glorious helping of absolute porch and twang. Come join The Garden Party (Thrill Jockey Records), keep your eyes on the skies and your feet floating just off the floor, in cahoots with similarly-minded varmints, free spirits seeking simple pleasures.
Drop your anxieties and fix yourself a beverage, Dudes, as prolific songwriter and already celebrated guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo) invites you to a melodic, mellow, extra sensory peace haven, his fourth outing now as Rose City Band, named for Portland, the City of Roses itself.
Guitar licks as fresh and cool as a paradisiacal popsicle will leave you woozy, wonky, and a little bit fuzzy, mindfully meditating as you contemplate the cosmic. Jammy fans of the Grateful Dead will be happy they are alive, and you might even find yourself surrendering to the sensation of falling slow-motion backwards, cushioned by a strategically placed pillow, or welcoming foliage, cradling your ass above an idyllic rural river bank. Or taking a long drive at night, top-down below an expansive, star-speckled sky, carefree as you head towards transcendence, somewhere just west of the wide-open spaces of blessed infinity.
The sizzly interplay between geetar and pedal steel (Barry Walker, prominent on most tracks) is apparent right from the opener, ‘Chasing Rainbows’, a song that almost comes to a halt before finding some new gear. The central ‘Porch Boogie’ does everything it says on the tin as the expertise and flexibility of these musicians, these cosy virtuosi, suggest the live jam possibilities could be seemingly endless (Don’t fall into the mistake of thinking this stuff is as “easygoing”, or simply as “easy”, as it might sound. The live band line-up changes a bit, but you’ll get the drift).
‘Saturday’s Gone’ is suitably elegiac and melancholic, slow enough at times to be almost static (“With Saturday gone, We carry along, And ride in the wake, In sight of it all”). The seven-minute-plus ‘Mariposa’ has an almost prog rock, Porcupine Tree thing going on but heads in another, subtle direction, moseying along like a rabbit or some other furry critter, then scampering through a sun-dappled glade. Despite its bittersweet lyrics, ‘Moonlight Highway’ sounds like fun (and sounds, at times, almost Manzarek-ly like The Doors – Moonlight Drive, anyone?), and is another of those tracks that could yet take on a new existence in a live setting.
The bandleader also plays bass, piano, and mellotron, as well as covering some percussion, with excellent drummer John Jeffrey. Paul Hasenberg contributes keyboards on seven of the album’s eight songs, while Sanae Yamada adds synths to ‘Moonlight Highway’ and to ‘El Rio’, the closing track that once again showcases Johnson’s very special tone, textures and guitarmonies, as this skillful, wistful journey meanders its way to a radiant finale.
Buy the album here:
https://rosecityband.bandcamp.com/track/chasing-rainbows
9 / 10
CALLUM REID