With the reissues and new releases of
the Blue Orchids
' past throughout 2003 on the
LTM
label providing more attention to
Martin Bramah
's unusual, entrancing music,
Bramah
took the opportunity to record a full new album.
Mystic Bud
is only the third full record released by the group in its on-again off-again near-quarter century existence, but from the start, with its slyly
Greatest Hit
-quoting
"Soul Stuff"
leading the way, it's one that shows
's ear for skew-whiff psychedelia remains strong. Recorded by
at home with four new bandmates --
Uma Baines
remains long gone, but
Charlotte Bell
's flute adds a fine wild-card element -- it's something
himself says in the liner notes might be "
Blue Orchids
by moonlight." It's a touch more reflective than either
The Greatest Hit
or
The Sleeper
, reminiscent perhaps of later
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
in a similar step back from freaked-out wigginess for a gentler, pastoral flow.
"Angel of the Loop"
and the appropriately titled
"Bemused"
find that spot perfectly, ambles through a late summer's evening.
's voice is calm, perhaps a touch strained and cracked at points, but not by much and to no ill effect on the music. Where there's a bit more noise in the mix, it's of an off-kilter rather than a caustic sort, and the results make for a merry ramble. The jaunty
"Freak Show,"
with its easy shamble, and the scraggly stomp of
"Black Peg's Son"
feel like cousins to any number of New Zealand underground '80s classics while
"Earthling"
and the concluding
"Black Pig"
also prove engaging. A flat-out lovely nod to the past comes with a cover of
the Archies
'
bubblegum
classic
"Sugar Sugar,"
given a slow, moody reworking that turns it into a beautiful
pop
equivalent of
the Velvet Underground
's
"Heroin."
~ Ned Raggett