DEBON

One of the truest obscure classics of the Japanese psychedelic rock scene, BRAST BURN emerged from nowhere back in 1975 to unleash one single psychotropic sounding album before disappearing into the ethers from which they sprung forth. While many a kaleidoscopic seeking band were dressing up their sonic excursions in to the lands of tripping honey, BRAST BURN remained stalwarts of the absolute most unrelentingly faithful to what Pink Floyd released with their landmark track 'Saucerful Of Secrets' which takes the listener on the sonic equivalent of being abducted by alien forces and whizzed from dimension to dimension to outer and inner space and back again. To add to the mystery, the band is anonymous and the sonic journey is as nebulous and disorienting as the album cover suggests. And what in the world does BRAST BURN or the album title DEBON even mean? There is simply nothing to grasp onto with this one other than a few musical motifs that recur and patterns that are formed by vocal nonsensical utterings, sliding guitars, a hyperactive bass and plenty of sleigh bells!

The album consists of only two long tracks. 'Debon Part 1' starts off as though the listener had been picked up by extraterrestrial entities and the sounds of UFO sounds sputtering forth into another space or dimension start things off. As the music progresses it becomes rhythmically stable with a recurring melody, an unstable slide guitar that feels a bit caffeinated and a schizophrenic Captain Beefheart impersonation accompanied by the Christmasy sounding slew of sleigh bells only with no carol singers to be found. The two tracks are actually divided up into suites of sort and after one idea is exhausted they sort of fizzle out and begin something new. In this case phase one cedes into an electronic tripped out frenzy and then starts phase two with percussion that sounds sort of church bell like accompanied by an acoustic guitar chord loop with electronic elements. Those rascally sleigh bells make a cameo now and again but the electronica simulates the wind and we feel like we're riding high in the clouds with all kinds of colors whizzing about like rainbows on acid riding unicorns. Second phase totally fades out before the third emerges as the tintinnabulation of church bells jingling on for a while but the sleigh bells begin a conversation with them and take over while gentle flutes and tribal drumming dance around sounding as if a cult ritual were being performed around a Pagan midnight fire dance as vocal chants ensue in uniform jocularity.

'Debon Part 2' begins with bird songs and a quirky guitar lick with, of course, more sleigh bells providing percussion! Also heard are dogs barking and various background noises. Eventually the folk guitar changes into a more psychedelic sound with a howling wind and a more conga type of percussion sound. Actually sounds like someone banging on a pot or something. This one changes things up by the layering effect. One stream of sound fades in while others fade out. This one focuses on folky guitar strumming with that same percussion and airy wind sounds. It strolls on aimlessly with the occasional animal sounds and recurring melodies on guitar that sort of just drift in and out haphazardly. This is quite the party as a laughing soundtrack comes and goes on as well. It drifts on into something that sounds sort of tango like rhythmically but completely weird and whacked out in la-la land. About 14 minutes in it fades out and another phase completely changes it up by fading in with an echoey guitar that ushers in bombastic drums and an acid drenched heavy psych guitar run that sounds like the real inspiration for pretty much everything Acid Mothers Temple built a career out of decades later. It continues into dreamscape like overlaps of ocean waves, ethereal guitar echoes and vocal chants.

More than worthy of being included on the Steve Stapleton's demented Nurse With Wound list, BRAST BURN is what psychedelia and lysergic laced dreams are made of. This mysterious band stayed true to the goal of total escapism with only enough melodic and rhythmic construction as not to become completely unhinged from reality and sputter into meaningless noise. All in all, it's actually quite folky underneath it all which makes it easier to release, detach and reattach to the ritualistic vibes being performed. While mysterious in nature BRAST BURN is thought to be the same band as Karuna Khyal which released an album the year later because of the similarities in its approach to psychedelic droning and experimental oriental takes on Krautrock. This is one for the true trippers out there who love to melt their minds with a sizzling soundtrack of sublimeness. BRAST BURN was the real deal blowing away anything that came before. While many psychedelic bands were more based in heavy psych, BRAST BURN has a gentle pastural take on lysergic escapism. It flows along as gentle as waves meandering across the sea's surface only punctuated by the irregularities that change it's overall trajectory. This is a way cool album!

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