The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow

Rating:

From the moment that Indigo Meadow opens, the drums seem to crackle in your speakers, while the guitar creates a trance-like sensation.  It’s a mood that sits with you for the beginning of your listen to the new record from Austin’s The Black Angels, but like always, the band allows for that sentiment to resonate for just a few tracks.  Just a few minutes later, “Evil Things” has that heavy-handed guitar churning again, creating that psychedelic cum metal stomp, but the chorus just beyond the 1.5 minute mark indicates a world of madness and beauty that arrives later.  Of course, the band wants to leave you with a smash and grab at the end of the track, just so you know they mean business.

But, you can leave the heavier stuff for a bit, as mesmerizing tracks like “Holland” wait your ears.  Sure, there’s a stereotypical organ placed in the background, but the way the guitar slowly plods along and the vocals swirl and the shout revert listeners back to the innocence of Haight-Ahsbury; songs like these are reminiscent of the genre at its best. That same sentiment exists throughout the middle of the record, especially with tracks like “Love Me Forever,” though the Black Angels always add their own twist.  Slowly the song snakes around the reverb vocals, but they push down on the distortion pedal and let out a momentary growl.  Then it soars off into a Zombies-esque vocal harmony that lasts all of about 3 seconds.  It may seemed like a scatter-brained world you’re listening in on, but I think that’s ultimately what makes Indigo Meadow an album worthy of repeated listens.

In the past, I’ve felt, though not minded, that The Black Angels often get stuck in their own sound, but the work here shows that they’ve branched out, reaching into all of their musical influences on one record.  I’ve mentioned the heavier opening numbers, and perhaps some of the psychedelic nods that are placed here and there, and that attitude allows for a certain diversity that will keep your ears entertained throughout. You’ve got groovy nostalgic ditties like “You’re Mine, which might be one of my favorite tracks on the LP, has this fuzzy throb to it, accompanied by ringing guitar cuts and the perfect accompanying percussion.  But, you turn around and find the album closer “Black Isn’t Black” built on a different wave-length.  Yes, there’s a throb/pulse here, but it’s much more sinister…that’s only made stronger by the way the vocals were recorded for this tune, like a ghost haunting your ear drums from the echo-y cavern of your skull.

While some may choose to focus solely on the lyrical content, or the misconstrued words of others, none of that really matters to me when listening to The Black Angels.  Having seen the band live many a time here in Austin, I listen to their tunes in hopes of creating my own landscape where the band’s music will accompany me.  Perhaps they’re playing in a cave that serves as drainage into Edward’s Aquifer, or maybe they’re taking me on a haunted boat cruise along Lady Bird Lake; regardless, they’re always taking me somewhere (musically and physically) that allows me to appreciate them as musicians playing the Devil’s good old-fashioned rock n’ roll throughout the entirety of Indigo Meadow.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/02-Evil-Things.mp3]