Golden Animals

Hear Eye Go

Written by: BV on 20/09/2013 19:12:27

When Golden Animals, a duo consisting of Tommy Eisner (guitar & vocals) and Linda Beecroft (drums & backing vocals), stormed on to the psychedelic scenes sometime in 2008 I was in absolute awe of the simplicity of their well-executed debut album “Free Your Mind and Win a Pony” and their take on desert-tinged psychedelia. Naturally, I was quite devastated (or at least taken aback) when Golden Animals suddenly vanished from the spotlights of psychedelic music for quite a while to go live a nomadic lifestyle in the desert. Now, five years and a crowd-funding effort later, Golden Animals return with their sophomore album “Hear Eye Go”. Continuing their blend of the psych sounds of the desert, and the somewhat more focused urban influences, “Hear Eye Go” is a simplistic, minimalist album with a certain sense of authenticity to it whilst managing to never sound overwhelmingly dated.

The closest they get to a dated expression is probably “All Your Life”, the bluesy album opener that boogies on with an upbeat riff and an overwhelming pop-sensibility that retains a somewhat psychedelic edge to it all. That Golden Animals fare much more impressively on “The Letter”, a classic little psych-gem, is no surprise at all really. The melancholic and bluesy track takes the listener on a peyote-infused trip through the desert where it becomes abundantly clear that Golden Animals are in fact children of the desert - stylistically, that is.

As the time comes for “You Don’t Hear Me Now”, the simplicity is somewhat overshadowed by an overwhelming presence of that grand spaghetti-western tinged psychedelia that practically runs amok in a daze of strangely upbeat, yet highly melancholic lyrics, eclectic guitar work and forceful drumming. The lyric “And though the waves of dust / Turn the skies to brown / And though the wings of love / Make a change for us / They don't care for us / Even now” underlines the desert as a source of inspiration as well as the fact that Tommy Eisner and Linda Beecroft have a knack for writing concise psychedelic gems – both lyrically and musically.

With the diabolically slow and glooming “Save Your Love”, it is becoming increasingly impressive to remember the fact that there are really only two instruments being played here – Eisner’s guitar and Beecroft’s drumkit. Whilst there is nothing new with duos consisting of a guitar and set of drums, one could easily argue that this particular musical approach is as forceful, if not greater than contemporary duos like The Black Keys (or the now defunct White Stripes) as Golden Animals primarily rely on floating and mellow soundscapes – thus standing as a complete opposite to the thrashing fuzz of both of the aforementioned contemporaries. In any case the lush sounds of Eisner’s guitar coupled with the forceful drumming of Beecroft, then coupled with their shared vocal duties seems to leave one hell of an impression.

Throughout the album’s 33 minute runtime Golden Animals seem to make it perfectly clear that this, their long-awaited sophomore release, was well worth a five-year wait as this simplistic, minimalist vehicle has perhaps crafted one of the greatest psychedelic albums of 2013. It’s sure to make my list at least.

9

Download: You Don’t Hear Me Now, The Letter, Never Was Her Name, Save Your Love
For The Fans Of: The Doors, The Dolly Rocker Movement, Spindrift, The Black Keys
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.09.2013
The Reverberation Appreciation Society


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