New Band To Burn One To: Snowy Dunes

This month has seen the release of the fantastic debut record from Sweden’s newest psychedelic stoner demons Snowy Dunes. Their self-titled record contains the elements of 60’s/70’s psychedelia and hard rock which launched a thousand acid trips back in the original sound’s heyday, and you listen to Snowy Dunes with nothing but images of hazy summer days and spiral colour vortex tunnels rushing towards your face. The Swedes are like a time machine, but not as a pastiche, but rather a tribute to what is a different lifetime ago. Similar to the 1886 record that was released earlier this year, Snowy Dunes are a joy to listen to, a tribute to the older scene, but with enough current influences to make the music relevant and their own in this day. It’s a strange way of thinking that the band’s future releases will continue to sound like the past, but it’s one repeat of history that we’re delighted to replay again.

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LP Review: 'Before The Fog Covers The Mount' by 1886

It was almost a year ago that hard psych group 1886 released their glorious self-titled EP which had us all dreaming of 60’s hazy tripped out summer days with longing smiles and not a care in the world. After much hard work, the guys from Barcelona have excelled once again with their debut full-length Before The Fog Covers The Mount, with its dreamy riffs, acid-dropping stoner tempos, and laid-back vocals, its a record to obsess over.

   

When music is so indebted to a time in history (1960-70s) it’s important that it’s done not as a tribute to a bygone era, but rather as if it was plucked directly from time itself, an undiscovered gem revealed 50 years later, and that is the key to 1886’s success; their passion, respect, and musicianship above all else takes centre stage, coursing through each track as if it was something born within each member. Opening with ‘Woodsman’ to soundtrack a summer’s drive along sun kissed sandy dunes, laid-back to the point of lying down onto the earth to stop from falling off, 1886 take you to another world, another time frame, to an almost different consciousness, the music becomes spell-binding. They manage the heavier riffs with as much aplomb too, as is evident in the stoner-esque ‘Witch Hunter’, the fuzz-licking ‘The Path Through the Green Forest’, and the heavy 70’s wah-wah tinged ‘The Seed Of Feed’.

    

1886 are craftsmen at what they do. Before The Fog Covers The Mount is a stunning collection of work that has propelled the 60’s into the modern century. It’s a record that should be on vinyl in every serious music lovers collection.

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