I’ve heard some excellent psych covers from Chicago’s The Luck Of Eden Hall, and have pondered whether their talent extends to song writing as well as production. Their new LP “Alligators Eat Gumdrops” resoundingly demonstrates their flare for writing great tunes, put through a rock, psych, kaleidoscopic filter.
Imagine Paul McCartney and Geoff Emerick circa Magical Mystery Tour experimenting on an Abbey Road piano and you’ll get an idea of the sound of album opener “High Heeled Flippers”. In fact, let’s get John Lennon doing a rockier Hey Bulldog with George Harrison on sitar, but no less infectious, and you’ll get the feel of The Luck of Eden Hall’s “Bangalore” too.
But I’d like to stress that while echoing some of these great sounds, The Luck of Eden Hall are no retro act and sound as exciting as any band around. Jack White would be proud of “Ten Meters Over the Ground” whilst “Summertime Girl” is a gorgeous ballad.
Probably my favourite track is “Amoreena Had Enough Yesterday”, the fizzing simplicity of those guitar riffs and chord sequences tied a mellotron sound is much harder to construct that it seems. “Green Faery” melds laughing gnome sentiment washed down with a tot of Absinthe.
Lyrics blend psychedelia and reflection with dreamlike ease, “Wasting the Days of Youth” and “Goodnight Anne Berlin” being prime examples.
Another highlight is the moving “A Carney’s Delirium”, an ode to the State Fair outdoing Soft Bulletin era Flaming Lips. All credit to the whole band’s playing too which is superb. This exemplified by “This is Strange” and closer “Alligators Eat Gumdrops” that take the album to a rockier conclusion.
And overall? An extremely inventive, beautifully crafted and bewitching album. But most importantly, excellent songs, more please!
More information can be found at: http://theluckofedenhall.com/ and the album can be purchased via http://theluckofedenhall.bandcamp.com/album/alligators-eat-gumdrops
