SENDELICA

You may notice, just a mysterious trademark, at least concerning their bandcamp presence there is a strong obsession to state. Nearly every text is printed in capitals. Takes getting used to. Though not the opening tune AEOLIAN SUNRISE, which offers a wonderful ambient flow plus some percussion alike support. EXODUS FROM UR then follows with some Ozric Tentacles feel. Lee Relfe delivers a smooth saxophone where Bingham's guitar is swirling around like a butterfly. Or what about the chilled flow on DEUTEROSOPHIA or the hypnotic krautish TAINTED GOAT ... SENDELICA is sending us on an extraordinary silky space rock excursion. Very nicely done.

Sendelica has become a seasoned band by now, and while they may well suffer a bit in the innovation department due to that they also have the experience needed to create material that always will engage on some level. Mainly gentle, careful and subtle instrumental psychedelic rock is what we are served here. Introspective music explored by way of improvised leads over a steady groove complete with the occasional intermission and careful, gradual change of pace, intensity and atmosphere. An album well worth seeking out if that description sounds interesting.

Here we have three extended workouts, all allowing the guys to flex their musical wings, with Peter Bingham (guitar, electronics) and Lee Relfe (saxophone) taking the lead, ably supported by Glenda Pescado (bass), Meurig Griffiths (drums) and Lord Armstrong Sealand (Theremin & synths). The last guys tend to provide the supporting role which allows the others to go off and take flight, creating new themes and constantly revisiting old ones, all locked in as one. Psychedelic, progressive, exciting, invigorating and full of space this is music which captures a band at home with each other, playing in a live environment. No need for retakes or fancy overdubbing, this is about getting a band in their natural environment and capturing that vibrancy and immediacy for the world to hear.

Although it is available both digitally and on CD, of course the only way to really hear this is by getting the double vinyl release from Fruits de Mer, where the fourth blank side has been overprinted in UV full-colour, a new technique offered by the Record Industry pressing plant (not so much a picture disc, more a disc with a picture on it...). Superb.

But apart from being a band with a steadily growing popularity, this is a band that also release good music. This single is merely one more example of just that. It is a cover tune, that is the specialty of Fruits de Mer Records after all, in this case the title track from the final album by The Walker Brothers.

The original is not known by me, but this cover version sounds like one that expands on the original ever so slightly. The slightly cold, firm female lead vocals for starters, but also the rock solid groove that push this track onward like a steam engine at full power. With a distanced piano and mystic, ethereal textures floating on top.

The instrumental B-side is even more impressive however. The percussion has been expanded, the firmness of the instrumentation toned down, and with an ongoing solo duel between the saxophone and the guitar, both of which by accident or design produce a motif and movement that to my mind closely resemble the sax solo in Gerry Rafferty's classic Baker Street.

I often find myself thinking about Hawkwind when I listen to Sendelica's music. So is the case here, although my impression here is that this song in general style resides somewhere on the halfway stage between Hawkwind and David Bowie, if that makes any sense to anyone. If it does, and this sounds interesting, this is a single that now needs to be hunted down through either mail order shops or the second hand market. If anyone feels like doing so after reading this: Happy hunting.

This production have obviously been made with a vinyl release in mind, with album sides clocking in at 23 and 22 minutes respectively. Sendelica provides the material for the A-side with a massive, epic length excursion called Day of the Locust, while Da Captain Trips have opted for three shorter tracks to represent them on the B-side of the album.

Sendelica's magnum opus here is one that documents the band exploring a rough, raw and dramatic variety of psychedelic space rock. The bass guitar is the central driving element throughout, the rhythms in support are steady and controlled, while an array of guitar riffs, solo runs, while dramatic surging and floating sounds hover on top. At times with a timbre and intensity that borders the unbearable. A massive, overpowering cycle concludes this raw, expressive trip into and possibly through the locust, a challenging but ultimately rewarding run through Sendelica's home turf.

Da Captain Trips, like Sendelica, have an effective bass line as the arguable main engine in their excursions, but unlike Sendelica their take on psychedelic space rock is one best described as more refined. The instruments are more polished throughout, the individual instruments are rarely if ever providing any sharp, dramatic sounds. Improvised sounding material, just like Sendelica, but with the rough edges smoothed out and with a layer or three of polish applied. If Sendelica is Hawkwind's "Doremi Fasol Latido", da Captain Trips is "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music".

It is interesting to experience two bands so similar yet so unlike on one album. Both play instrumental psychedelic rock with cosmic and space rock elements, both bands comes across as ones not strangers to improvisation, and at least in this case both bands feature compositions where the bass guitar appears to have a key role in maintaining flow momentum. Those who find descriptions of this nature intriguing will most likely find this production to be well worth acquiring.

A key reason for a band expanding their scope, reach and popularity will often be that they simply create music that appeals to a broader audience, and that appears to be very much the case for Sendelica these days. I have followed the band for a good few years by now, by way of being sent promo copies of their albums, and personally I think that they are at a creative peak these days in quality even more than quantity. They have found their shape, form and sound, and are comfortably exploring all facets of their repertoire in a compelling and frequently hypnotizing manner.

On this album we're presented to quite a few different sides of the band. The opening, epic length piece, The Cromlech Suite, a more than 20 minutes long journey that opens up as a gliding, elegant affair with careful keyboard textures and dampened ongoing sax soloing, initially accompanied by elegant plucked guitar details and then slowly increasing in pace and intensity, reaching a Hawkwind style bass driven, riff underscored peak, then returning to a second run through more or less the same pathways but now along a different melodic scope. Steady drums and a firm bass the core foundation and driving features throughout.

The B-side of the album has been assembled in a suite on my promo, clocking in at 20 minutes, but it really is three different songs tied together. An initial venture into vintage era heavy psychedelic rock with slight traces of both Hawkwind and, unless I'm much mistaken, trace elements of Black Sabbath here and there too, with a beefy organ also making a solid appearance on this one. The second part is a calmer, mellow affair, kind of like a 70's era psychedelic rock band teaming up with ELO in terms of certain atmospheric elements. And then we're taken on a dark, 10 minute ride at the very end, with twisted guitars and keyboards, booming bass, heavy set drums, some sax details here and there as well unless I'm much mistaken, but a journey first and foremost dominated by the otherworldly sounds from Cyndee Lee Rule's electric violin. The combination of those exotic sounds and the much darker, ongoing backdrop resulting in a magnificent piece of music with one of the more hypnotic ongoing basic themes I have come across in some time.

Those with a passion for instrumental psychedelic rock with distinct space rock orientations can do a lot worse for themselves than seeking out this album. Those with a strong fascination for these type of bands mainly adhering to a vintage-oriented general sound that at times can remind of early Hawkwind will most likely be something of a key audience, alongside those who find the music of this nature to be of general interest.

One might presume that the band choosing to cover this song isn't altogether accidental, and many would suspect that this project came as a rather swift response to the news of David Bowie's all too sudden passing in January 2016. According to the label this isn't the case however, stating that this song was recorded prior to Bowie's all too soon passing from this world.

Still, as someone not all that invested in the music of Bowie, this single still comes across as just as much a lament as a tribute to the late and great David Robert Jones. Guest vocalist Alice Davidson does add a sensual, and arguably even subtly erotic, dimension to the proceedings with her vocals and vocal effects, with the slower paced bass and drums foundation creating a mournful atmosphere beneath and a vast array of swirling, surging, echoing and cosmic sounds on top comes across as a proper send off and appropriate company for the soul of the departed Bowie on it's journey in the afterlife, whether it's through an outer or inner cosmos or to a heavenly sphere somewhere.

Astralasia's remix version gives a slight emphasis to the cosmic sounds by way of an ongoing staccato synthesizer motif applied to the proceedings, while the original song is a subtly dampened and softened undercurrent beneath. A description that probably sounds goofier and much less enthralling than the end result itself. Then again, when even the record label releasing this single is at a loss for words in how to describe this remix, using mere words to describe this one in an appropriate manner is perhaps just to difficult. If you can imagine seeing a star-sign version of Bowie as Ziggy Stardust walking through space then I suspect you'll be on the right track envisioning that and imagining what the soundtrack to this would be like.

While apparently not planned nor conceived as a tribute to a great artist following his passing, Sendelica's take on Ziggy Stardust does come across as a highly appropriate track to play in such a context. There's a mournful edge to this cover version, bordering on lament at times in terms of mood and atmosphere, combined with a sensual/erotic vocal presence and the psychedelic, cosmic light toned overlays that gives this piece something of an otherworldly general presence. A tribute to a great artist in the game if not the name, to put it that way, and I doubt if too many others will manage to make their tributes to David Bowie in a manner as compelling as this one for some time.

One of the primary tendencies to the music of Sendelica, even if not the exclusive one by far, has been to create guitar driven psychedelic and space rock that fairly often has been comparable to a band like Hawkwind, occasionally also borrowing or using some key guitar riffs that has lead to some direct association sin that department being unavoidable. The use of saxophone solo runs and details in their music is another characteristic trait that both have emphasized a certain connection to Hawkwind but also have set them slightly apart from many other bands generally described as being of the space rock variety.

The same tendencies can be found also on this album, but in this case they aren't really the dominating aspects of the production. In fact, rather few of the all instrumental compositions are purebred cuts of that specific nature, but the ones who can be sorted under this category of material are all well developed and compelling ones. As is the case with this album as a whole, as a matter of fact.

The greater majority of the compositions here is of a somewhat different nature however. More careful and atmospheric laden, the use of gliding instrument textures in relatively slow moving sequences where dampened guitar solo and effects motifs, often dampened but distorted in sound, are paired off with keyboards and synthesizer sounds, an ongoing unobtrusive bassline and with the guitar elements alternating with delicate saxophone runs and, one one occasion at least, flute. Often with something more of a psychedelic than space rock sound actually, although various careful details still adds a slight cosmic touch to the proceedings. A fairly common feature in that context are sequencer sounding synthesizer motifs and cold, elegant and careful synthesizer or keyboard textures, that adds a slight association towards a band such as Tangerine Dream to the general expression, and then the more accessible and arguably ambient nature of that band's material first and foremost.

Sendelica has often been a band that, at least for me, have come across as more interesting in a live setting than on their studio albums. A bands that have struggled somewhat in managing to display the same type of energy and compelling features to their material in a recording studio as they have when on stage. On this occasion my impression is that they have succeeded also as a recording unit, creating a strong and compelling studio album that in my view should expand the scope and interest for their particular brand of instrumental progressive psychedelic space rock quite nicely. With a probably key audience those just as fond of their Tangerine Dream as they are of bands like Hawkwind.

For those unfamiliar with the sound of the group, think the tough guitar of Hawkwind chugging around mysterious sax strains ala Gong (and maybe just a tiny pinch of Soft Machine jazziness here and there), with a punchier and more streamlined approach than something like another modern space-rock act the Oresund Space Collective. There's a constant driving momentum to their spacey instrumental voyages, a wonderful reinterpretation of a beloved early Pink Floyd classic and even a relentless 47 minute blowout with a super proggy self-indulgent title to keep deep space travellers happy here!

The amusingly titled opener `Spaceman Bubblegum' saunters with a bluesy guitar drowse, synth trickles percolating around plodding chunky bass strolls, fiery drums attacks and hazy sax. `Standing on the Edge' is a Hawkwind-aping two-minute heavy metallic guitar grind, then there's plenty of atmosphere and build throughout the near eighteen minute `Manhole of the Universe', a whirlwind of slow-burn smouldering electric guitar, wavering theremin wisps and swirling synths with brief reggae diversions. The cheekily-titled instrumental reinterpretation of classic Pink Floyd piece `Set the Controls for the Heart of the Buddha' has gorgeous drifting sax permeating dusty Eastern-flavoured bazaar moods, and it's everything a cover version should be - a complete reinvention that sounds like an original piece from the new band performing it, as if it's one of their very own works!

A standout of the set takes up the majority of the second disc, and the forty-seven minute `Master Benjamin Warned Young Albert Not to Step on the Uninsulated Air' (Yes, really, and phew!) is a delirious mess of a vacuum of noise contrasted with more sedate yet brooding passages that shows the band at their most unhinged and exciting. Constantly pounding drums and an up-tempo energy sustain almost the entire length of the piece with echoing guitar chimes and erupting murmuring bass, and there's several spots that are great highlights. An early rush of sax snaps like a furious whiplash, and the section at around the twenty-one minute mark where the synths spiral into crystalline infinity is a real moment. The soothing come-down before a bluesy finale is a nice way to finish, then the band closes the set with ` Magical Ninin' that makes for a belting encore.

Sendelica may not be setting out to reinvent the space-wheel here, but traces of original ideas and their own unique character frequently emerge throughout this addictive 101 minute set, and it especially impresses with constant repeated spins. Despite always staying lively and energetic, the playing rarely resorts to aimless freeform jamming, so it would likely make for a pretty ideal introduction to the group for newcomers. `Live from the 7th Psychedelic Network Festival 2014' is a showcase for a group of talented players offering music of great colour, and psychedelic/space rock followers will find several moments of captivating beauty here.

Four stars.

With a steadily increasing number of recordings and live shows to its credit, Sendelica is becoming quite the solid name for those with an interest in vintage instrumental space rock. Their charming habit of incorporating familiar-sounding details into their songs and their tendency to have their best moments live on stage is a combination that makes their live albums arguably more interesting than their studio recordings. In this case it's an honest live album, not a perfect specimen in terms of mix or balance, but an honest representation of a quality live band using their guitars, theremin, synthesizer and saxophone to create compelling instrumental space rock. A production that merits an inspection if that sounds like a compelling description to you.