Horizons, the third full length release from Scandinavian Indie/Psych band Black Light White Light, harks back to not that long ago when Temples and TOY were poised to make a breakthrough into the mainstream. Psychedelic for sure but with plenty of Indie Rock smarts and a lush swirling production to appeal to both the PsychHeads and Indie Kids. Taking the dense and distorted Shoegaze atmospherics of early 90s Creation Records along with the rich textures of the late 80s 4AD releases and adding a modern twist to these “classic” sounds, Black Light White Light create a trippy Spectorish wall of sound with waves of fuzzed out guitars, tumbling drums and spaced out undulating synths that sucks in influences from 60s Swinging London to current American Psychedelic Rock. The band revolve around Martin Ejlertsen (vocals/guitars) who formed the band back in 2009, with other musicians brought in when needed to join drummer Viktor Höber in transforming his deep dreams into beautifully constructed spacious and distorted Psychedelia with a solid core of dark and pervasive melancholy. Horizons is essentially an album of strange Psychedelic Pop that fuses the adventurous 1960s with the fiercely independent spirit of the late 80s/early 90s, filtered through the lens of a very modern Psych Rock sensibility.
It has already been said that this is not an album but an experience. More expansive than the previous records, Horizons opens with the lush, layered dreamy ‘King Kong’ as the latest Black Light White Light album introduces keyboards as a new and fundamental element of the sound, making the songs breezy yet intrusive, with harmonies and chiming delay guitars under attack with fuzz, all enveloped in dark and pervasive melancholic melodies. The reference points for this record have to be early Tame Impala, Pond and Temples. Definitely Temples………….’Teenage Dream’ has the same tripped out vibe as many of the tracks on Sun Structures with Beatles-esque bass and pounding drums tipping the song into a swirling psychedelic vortex. The Temples influence/inspiration runs trough the spine of the LP, cropping up again on ‘Illusions/Emotions’, ‘Never Going Back’ and the album’s title track as Black Light White Light twist and turn through 11 stunning tracks. With detours into mellow West Coast Byrdsian jangle, the dark corners occupied by The Velvet Underground, rich wide screen cinematic soundscapes and twisted Synth Pop, Horizons is an extremely ambitious contemporary Psychedelic Indie Rock record that has been designed to cross over from the Psychedelic Realm into more mainstream Indie Rock world and have credibility in both. Maybe a bit too polished for the more dedicated PsychHead, nevertheless Horizons is a excellent record right from the first drop of the needle and could be the break out record that brings Black Light White Light the international recognition they deserve.
Out NOW via Forward Backward Recordings, Horizons is available on limited edition white vinyl and CD from all the best record emporiums, the usual suspects online or direct from the Black Light White Light store here…………………
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