IT IS DARK, BUT I HAVE THIS JEWEL

It's the 2020 live album which has best gained PA attention for the Finnish psych group Superfjord. I have reviewed their second studio album All Will Be Golden (2018) and now I want to have a look at their yet-unreviewed debut. Whereas on the second album the line-up had expanded considerably, here the composing guitarist/multi- instrumentalist Jussi Ristikaarto plays largely by himself, with a bunch of other guys contributing here and there. Before Supefjord, Ristikaarto had played in a Floyd-influenced long-term psych/space rock group called Kevin, whose third and final album Ebb and Flow (2012) seems to be well worth checking out as a related work.

The seven-piece album is instrumental in nature, despite occasional vocal parts. 'The Great Vehicle' has a hypnotic, pulsating soundscape with a Pink Floyd feel -- for the bouncy guitar sound think of 'Another Brick in the Wall pt. 1' for instance. Alto saxophone is guested for a gritty and wailing solo, and Ilari Kivelä's synths have a central role. The second track is no less than John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' turned into highly psychedelic space rock piece without any saxophone. The spoken word is by another guest Ville Särmä.

'I Play With Flowers and Their Fragnance Clings to My Clothes' (3:20) is the only track in under six minutes length. Featuring mainly birdsong and acoustic guitar, one may think of certain Ummagumma era Pink Floyd pieces, although there are no vocals at all. I like the warm and organic atmosphere. 'Mai Huli'oe I Kokua O Ke Kai' (is that Hawaian perchance??) is built on a strong percussive pattern, part programmed, part acoustic. For the rest of the arrangement, the slightly over-extended piece is rather looney in its Eastern-tinged psychedelia.

Also 'The Chandrasekhar Limit' (8:04) has an out-there feel and a hypnotic repetition, as if the listener was floating along an Indian river, high on mushrooms. The acoustic guitar makes only a brief appearance for this Gong/ Steve Hillage reminding spacey psych tune. By the time of the sixth track the solid musical ideas seem to have run out pretty much. The repetitive and partly distorted vocalising doesn't improve it, on the contrary.

Happily the 9-minute last piece 'I Seem to Have Forgotten What We Were Talking About' marks a return to what's charming on this album. The distant female vocalising (by Ringa Manner) is a nice sonic addition to this hypnotic space walk -- is it inner or outer space, that's up to you! All in all, this album is a bit rough around the edges, and in a sketch- like manner stretches the sparse musical substance to the maximum, but it definitely has a unique charm to sink into.

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