GutterPutter

I don’t exactly know how to phrase this. This album isn’t exactly the best or even alike to your normal dream pop album. This collaboration project between experienced New Zealand musician Connan Mockasin & his father Ade (this is his debut into the music world no less) has made a peculiar series of tracks that primarily takes from the likes of psychedelic pop & hypnagogic pop. You would recognise Connan for his numerous collaborations & ventures with other artists, the biggest of which being with the cult-loved MGMT on Little Dark Age in 2018. While he haven’t made a renown out of his discography, his experience in the psychedelia genre has made him a worthwhile tagalong instrumentalist for other acts who may want to go deep into producing the record.

The result was originally a relaxed kind of record that doesn’t require a lot of thinking to appreciate it. At first that is. The record feels as if it’s fraught with a directionless take on what to do with the very genre Connan specialises in & thus, overproduce it to the point of numbing the spectacle that comes with the studio as the instrument. It meanders from the vocals of Ade who would ramble on about a drug-instilled interpretation of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale in ‘The Wolf’. If not that, you would have the reverberating guitars in the background with a little ounce of charisma to it such as the pseudo-intellectual contemplation in ‘Marfa’. The mixing I feel helps to add to the detriment of the experience such as in ‘Te Awanga’ which is supposed to present a kind of narrative around a fantastical metaphor of feeling alienated, but the before-said wringing sound effects from the instruments have made it hard to understand what is going on. Interludes like ‘What It Are’ & ‘Tight Waxing’ are about as close to track picks as I can get to, but while the former can be groovy even if it feels too over-attached to its supposed sonic prowess, the latter can come off as a drag in the realm of ambient pop.

That’s to exclude ‘Edge of Darkness’ or the titular track, both of which can be best described as lengthier, even more insipid takes on the tracks I’ve just touched on. You would much rather wish to hear a professional guitarist like Joe Satriani whose virtuoso skill I’m not awfully fond of than to take a listen to a failed attempt of a textures showcase. That is not much compared to the gigantuan ‘Round Peg in a Square Hole’ that is the drowsiest 14 minutes’ take as of late. It consists on Connan’s guitar playing on top of ripples of drum beats, some of which gives off a primitive impression & an echoing asides of other guitars. That’s about as close as you have for the track itself & the worst thing is that it just sticks with it as if there’s an anticipation that sooner or later, you would buy in to its atmosphere. The ending of that song reminds you of Ade once more with the adages that is wrought with the worst prog recollection of the new world. I manage to pick up on the phrase ‘listening to this stuff’ within the rambles & needless to say, at least it seems like he’s aware of the humdrum within it. ‘Stuck’ I might as well skip since by then, I’m getting put off by the choppy editing of the track. Half-done & set for a lengthy ponderance on why I even have to listen to it once more as I write this review.

‘Clifton’ is ironic both as an outro & in its theme as Ade admires how interesting the eponymous character is back in the 750s when the swooning of ‘Oh Clifton/ Now as I’ve wander/ well I’m still tricked/ Back on the sea/ A collapsing tree’ (sic) reeks of non-sequiter nonsense. As a matter of fact, you would be much better off considerably with a satirical Radiohead minimalist album than with a hodgepodge of dream pop at its most tiring (ironically enough). I wouldn’t happier than to cap off the record in a comparatively short review. It is nothing short of drudgery & in light of its dependence of the flanging reverbs, fails to reward on further listens. This might’ve been a relatively short review compared to the others, but I wouldn’t wish to comment any more on the debacle. Fans of the psychedelia I would warn, others who wanted to find a gem within the cynical takes I have so far, you’re better off with Greta Van Fleet even.