By Jonny Bakes
I’ll admit that sometimes all it takes for me to spark an interest in a band is a name, if it’s something with a bit of humour or a play on words then I’m going to have to check them out. So when Tumbleweed Dealer dropped on my desk, I knew I had to give it a listen, and boy was I met with an experience! With a band name like that releasing an album called ‘Dark Green’ it’s pretty obvious what the creative force behind them may be – and if it isn’t obvious to you then may you continue to live in innocence!
‘Dark Green’ is a bit of a musical experience really, the psychedelic and progressive nature of the music takes you on a hell of a trip, with each song expressing something completely different and sometimes pretty abstract. Take ‘A Plant That Thinks That It’s Human’ for example!
The album is predominantly instrumental, with no vocals at all for the first half – and even then there’s only one track that actually has any vocals.The music is predominantly bluesy and heavy on the funky basslines with a whole host of different instruments and samples making an appearance at different points – there’s saxophone, trumpets and some choral samples to name but a few. In a way that’s hard to describe, the music often feels expansive, giving you the sensation of being something very small floating around something bigger than you can imagine. ‘Dark Green’ is definitely the kind of music that is great to unwind to and you can achieve a meditative state in the process, should you wish, or just sit back and enjoy any imagery that it invokes.
‘Becoming One With The Bayou’ was the first track that started to stand out from the rest, mostly due to the unexpected trumpet interruption in what is otherwise quite a serene piece of music. One minute you’re drifting on a cool calm night, and the next it’s BAM bring on the trumpets. But the jarring transition works really well and certainly does a lot to grab the attention, that’s for sure.
The other one that sticks in my mind is ‘Sparks Adrift In The Louisiana Night Sky’ which has a very different vibe. This one is slightly faster and a bit heavier with a healthy dose of synth, but it’s the little noodly guitars that made this one stick.The guitar sounds almost like the call of some kind of bird that can just about be heard over the top of the energetic noise of all of the other instruments.
‘Dark Green’ is a difficult one to articulate, I must admit; it’s something that you really need to experience for yourself to understand! If you let it, this album will make you feel all sorts of feelings and spark your imagination in just the right way. And if you decide not to throw yourself into it, you can at least get comfortable and let it relax you (hell, I fell asleep when I first tried listening to this and had some pretty wild dreams!).
If “psychedelic desert rock” is the name of one of your playlists, then you’ve probably already got ‘Dark Green’ on rotation but otherwise, if you’re feeling a bit adventurous then this is definitely worth a shot.
- ‘Dark Green‘ is out now.
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