Psychedelic musings and adventures are rarely soundtracked quite to the extent that Psychic Ills can provide. If the sun-kissed and washed is what you delve into when you search for psychedelia, not many bands can perform the melodic niche quite like this duo can. The New York duo are formed around Tres Warren’s demos, this is a culmination of three years work that sees the band journey further into their own speciality as the LP title may suggest. Instead of falling in a nonchalant fashion upon the current swamp of psychedelia and becoming just another rainbow coloured fish in an otherwise acid-fuelled swamp, they blend their understandings and influences via Elizabeth Hart’s superglue-esque bass. It adds the buffer to the sound and is so distinctive in the way it has always supported Warren’s hazy, lethargic voice. So where does Inner Journey Out see the band developing their sound from their previously released efforts that now span well over a decade? Sacred Bones has been good to us with Psychic Ills in recent years, giving us the likes of Hazed Dream and One Track Mind and allowing the band to really find their niche – but as with any music, developments are sought somewhere, anywhere!
Inner Journey Out finds its modus operandi in the out, in the collective and in the multitude of guests and friends that have been picked by Warren to take part on the album. Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star was the first to bless our ears with her presence, featuring on the lead single off Inner Journey Out – ‘I Don’t Mind’. As a song, as with many Psychic Ills pieces, it finds its groove around the guitar and within the rhythm pattern. Taking from the likes of Date Palms with its enigmatic ooze, seducing the sunlight, it forms the poetic nature of photosynthesis with how it draws optimism and light from the darkest of corners. Beautifully crafted around succulent string sections, it personifies this time of year perfectly.
In fact, it emerges that this collective notion is really what Psychic Ills can pull out of the bag on what is now their seventh effort. It is ambitious in how it takes what were previously implied as overdubs on their albums and finds the strength to materialise them into much more humane encounters. This gives the band a variance that they have seldom played with in the past. ‘Back To You’ really emphasises the songwriting prowess that Warren and Hart are capable of, tempting the unknown with abstract uses of percussion. However, this once again acts as testament to how they have expanded Psychic Ills from what was essentially a duo – the percussion in its expanded form is provided by Chris Millstein and Harry Druzd of Endless Boogie, Derek James of The Entrance Band, and Charles Burst, one of the record's engineers. It gives the album and sound of Psychic Ills a new dynamic, plus it’s kind of interesting to see how they have taken the opportunity to make something a collective. The thing about collectives is they are all inclusive, they make a bit more of a statement and especially within a genre that can often be so insular and self-loving, it adds a real Summer of Love-haze to it.
‘All Alone’ adds to the new, multifaceted dynamic that Psychic Ills are finding. Very much in an Amorphous Androgynous fashion, it finds its roots in the downright obscure, blending in elements of electronica and Samba rhythm all underneath Warren’s washing vocals. ‘Another Change’ stands out with its soul-infused bedlam, its gospel vocals underly the choruses elevating them to an otherworldly level and once again, exaggerating that promise of summer that the entirety of Inner Journey Out poses. ‘Coca-Cola Blues’ knocks on the door of Neil Young, taking the style to a further stripped-down side, it adds another dynamic to the album that is beginning to appear as a tribute to each influence that has taken Warren by interest over the last three years.
This is what is really interesting about the album though, its length in total comes in at around an hour and a bit, so it’s no flash-fry serving, it’s got quite a lengthy cooking time. It just does not grow boring though. It’s miraculous how it does it. Generally albums that kick around the hour mark catch you snoozing as it ticks past 45 minutes however, the secret to Inner Journey Out is its dynamic in sound. It really, really is a journey, but it’s bloody lovely at that. It picks up and gently muses over free-jazz ‘Ra Wah Wah’, soul ‘Another Change’, electronic-infused psychedelia ‘Hazel Green’ and ‘New Mantra’ and blues. It promises so many questions but rarely stops to offer the answers, you kind of don’t really mind though, you want it to remain enigmatic as that is what Warren and Hart seem so good at doing.
As the album cuts in and out throughout the second half, it finds safety in what Psychic Ills always have been so good at doing and that is with finding the vein in the breezy psychedelia. ‘Fade Me Out’ does quite literally what it says on the tin, it acts as the album closer, stating how. “I know I’ll miss you when you’re gone / I know you’ll miss me when I’m gone”, it’s a goodbye kiss that once again poses questions as to who or what we will miss. My guess is Psychic Ills – the enigma continues.
Tom Churchill
Website: psychicills.com
Facebook: facebook.com/psychicills
Twitter: twitter.com/psychicills