Wishing Well - Chasing Rainbows

Inverse Records (INV208)

Wishing Well is a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band from Helsinki that have been sending me their demos for a few years now. They have been okay but nothing sensational. I must say I was a bit surprised when I put on their first album Chasing Rainbows since this sounds a lot better! The band has gotten a bit more metal which is great. When I say metal, I mean true 80's heavy metal that makes your adrenaline levels rise and heart beat faster. It's almost impossible not to bang your head and pound your fist in the air, you know the feeling. The singer Peter James Goodman has a powerful, great voice that sometimes brings to mind Finnish superstar Kirka when he recorded his heavy rock albums in the early 80's or even Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, but still not being a copyist by any means. Perfect vocals for this kind of music! For a special guest singer to one song ("Hippie Heart Gypsy Soul") the band has even somehow managed to get the legendary English singer Graham Bonnet, who we all old hard rockers know from bands like Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group and Alcatrazz.

The album includes nine original songs all penned by the guitarist Anssi Korkiakoski who also plays all the bass on the album. The first two are the melodic and catchy but still heavy title track that I really like and the fast power metal piece "Science Fiction". The first one sounds like old Tarot a bit, and on the fast one the drummer "Rip Radioactive really can show what he's capable of! The single track with Bennet, "Hippie Heart Gypsy Soul", is closer to late 70s hard rock, but still not as pop-like than Bennet-era Rainbow, for example. "Sacrifice" is a slower, doomy song that could almost be from some post-Dio Black Sabbath album. Cool! "Luck Is Blind" is melodic mid-tempo heavy metal also including some keyboards. Then it's time for the CD's first ballad, but the bit bluesy "I'll Never Let You Go" is my last favourite track on the album I'm afraid. I do like the acoustic lead guitar work, though, and things get more progressive (Gary Moore's Irish influences?) later on. "Sands of Time" rocks fast and hard again but with great sense of melody. I'm reminded of Helloween perhaps? the mid-tempo "Holy Mountain" sounds a bit like Iron Maiden and works very well. The album is finished with the great, atmospheric and beautiful ballad "Fire in My Soul" that brings to mind even some of the softer, emotional songs of Manilla Road, if I dare to say so. Very nice! All in all, every heavy metal/hard rock fan should check this album out since there's a lot to like for everyone in here. Extra points for the amazing cover art!

www.facebook.com/wishingwell2016/

Hotlist March 2016

This is the hot stuff this month:

Tuliterä - Tulikaste 2LP
White Hills - No Game to Play LP
The Oscillation - Monographic LP
Circle - Pori 2LP
Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children - For the Ages to Come LP
Hashish - A Product Of LP
Ecstatic Vision – Sonic Praise LP
Causa Sui  - Return to the Sky LP + bonus 10"
Electric Orange - Morbus 2LP
Circle - Miljard 3LP

Astral Visions Psych Mix #62 now online!

Brand-new Astral Visions Psych Mix with loads of never heard tracks! The featured bands are: Sula Bassana, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Stay, Proud Peasant, Sendelica (x 3) Jupiter, Goatess, Gudars Skymning, Blaak Heat, Vibravoid Official, Dark Sun (FI), Soft Hearted Scientists, Claudio Cataldi, Octopus Syng, Mechanik, The Oscillation & Menimals. Enjoy the ride!

www.mixcloud.com/AstralVisions/astral-visions-062

Surya Kris Peters - The Hermit

Electric Magic (EMLP-08)

The Hermit is a highly limited (100 copies only!) vinyl album including the best tracks from two digital solo albums by Samsara Blues Experiment's main man Christian Peters from Berlin. I reviewed his first solo album Status Flux last year, and in early 2016 he released another digital album "Moonstruck" that I had not heard before. In his solo work Christian/Kris focuses on meditative instrumental ambient music with some cosmic kraut and Far Eastern vibes. The A side of this album includes four tracks from Status Flux, namely "Eremitage", "Ragamati", "Winterbottom" and "Snow Feather". The first two and the last one are more electronic and synth/keyboard-driven ambient pieces, the shorter "Winterbottom" has guitar and organ.

The B side starts off with the over nine-minute great, atmospheric electronic synth piece "Legend of Raja Shakuu". Strong Japanese influences are shown on this side for sure. "Moonstruck Serenade" is a shorter piece with also some piano sounds and psychedelic space sounds, especially towards the end. "Chandra Luna" has at first a light, rather ethnic flavor, but it gets deeper and more drone-like after a while. This is the longest track at 9:39. The last track "La Morrina" has guitar again and is a beautiful, folky number. This album is recommended for minimal meditative music fans who love limited vinyl releases.

soundcloud.com/suryakrispeters

Imaad Wasif with Two Part Beast - Strange Hexes

World in Sound (WIS-3029)

Imaad Wasif is a Canada-born, Los Angeles-based psychedelic/alternative/hard rock/pop/folk singer and guitarist who's been active in bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lowercase, Alaska!, The Folk Implosion, EFG & Grim Tower as well as putting out some stuff under his own name since 2006. I have previously only heard his third solo album The Voidist (2010 Tee Pee Records) that I reviewed for Psychotropic Zone and enjoyed pretty much. Strange Hexes that will be out in a month on World in Sound in Germany is actually his second solo album originally self-released in 2006. There was also a highly limited 2CD tour edition compiling both The Voidist and Strange Hexes in 2011, but this is technically the first time this album is wildly available in Europe.

Imaad has a really great, emotional and passionate voice that you immediately feel drawn to. I also really like his guitar playing. Other musicians on this album are Bobb Bruno (bass, keyboards, additional guitar) & Adam Garcia (drums). The CD comes in a cool digipak that also includes a lyric insert. There are 10 songs all written by Imaad. Stylistically they vary from melodic pop and fragile folk/country to heavy, fuzzy hard rock, sometimes even during one track (like on the opener "Wanderlusting"). At his heaviest Imaad sounds a bit like early 70s classic hard/heavy rock masters Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, but at softer moments I'm reminded of The Beatles, The Byrds, Bob Dylan etc. The album has a somewhat mystical, almost occult vibe throughout but it's not too strong or in-your-face. There are great melodies and moody and hazy atmospheres in these great, often melancholic compositions, and like the promo sheet says this can be recommended for fans of Dead Meadows, Espers and Black Mountain, among others. Also check out the latest single "Outlier" by his band EFG.

www.facebook.com/Imaad-Wasif-55317389713

Claudio Cataldi - Here She Comes Now 7"

Fruits de Mer Records (winkle 22)

Claudio Cataldi is a singer/songwriter from Palermo, Cicily, Italy. He has released a couple of CD-R and tapes and taken part in a few Fruits de Mer compilations: A Momentary Lapse of Vinyl, Strange Fruit And Veg and two of the free CD-R's for The 13th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus' Festival August 7-9, 2015. His version of Syd Barrett number "She Took A Long Cold Look" also made it to vinyl on the highly limited Momentary Two 7" EP. This is his first 7" EP on his own, and a pretty good one it is too. First we get the Velvet Underground cover "Here She Comes Now" that's rather similar to the vibe of the original but even more minimal with no drums. Nice! You might have heard this before on the Strange Fruit And Veg compilation. Claudio's original composition "All My Friends Are Here" is a brand-new song not heard anywhere before. It's a nice, mellow and dreamy piece with soft vocals,  acoustic and electric guitar, and also some percussion. On the B side we have two older tracks, both also available on the The 13th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus' Festival August 7-9, 2015 compilations. "Final" is a moody, hypnotic psych pop gem also including some organ/keyboards. My favourite on the EP and it will also be included on my next Astral Visions psych mix! The instrumental "Ropes and Strings" is more acoustic in nature and rather folky but also very nice and atmospheric. All in all this is very pleasant little EP, check out this guy!

claudiocataldi.bandcamp.com

Proud Peasant - Cosmic Sound 7"

Fruits de Mer Records (Crustacean 070)

Proud Peasant is a totally new band to me but they are from the U.S.A. and clearly know their 70s prog rock. I really love the German progressive space rock band Eloy, and it's a real pleasure to hear Proud Peasant cover their track "Daybreak" that the band released in 1971 as a 7" single (I need to get that now too!). Proud Peasant have dropped the vocals altogether so we get a totally instrumental, faster, rather energetic and powerful version that works really well. I only wish it would last a lot longer then the 3+ minutes... Epic going. I can't say I'm such a big fan of Manfred Mann's Earth Band, but Proud Peasant's atmospheric, proggy and bluesy "Mercury, The Winged Messenger" cover sounds pretty cool. At around the three-minute-marker there is a weird, spacey and smooth part, and then the track starts to rock out more in a rather heavy and progressive way. Whoa! This is a great version and makes me want to investigate the original performer further too... All in all, this is a very nice instrumental prog rock single that the fans of this genre will enjoy for sure.

www.proudpeasant.com

Sendelica - Ziggy Stardust 7"

Fruits de Mer Records (Crustacean 69)

One of the next releases on Fruits de Mer will an ultra cool cover 7" by Welsh psychedelic space rockers Sendelica. This is a great homage to the late musical genius David Bowie including two versions of his masterpiece "Ziggy Stardust". I must add that the tracks were recorded months before Bowie passed away. Sendelica has played this song live and you can hear an acoustic version by them on the compilation album Fashion - Songs Written By David Bowie, the limited Fruits De Mer club members only year 2015 freebie. This of course is a whole different deal. On the A side we've got a marvelous, slow, atmospheric, psychedelic and dreamy version of the song with gorgeous female vocals, sax, lots of floating synths etc. What an amazing vibe, the band really turn this track into something ethereal and very different. If that wasn't enough, Astralasia does an excellent remix of Sendelica's version on the flip side. No, Marc Swordfish does not transform the track into an up-beat dance hit, on the contrary. His remix is even more ambient in nature. I like the way he has added some sequencers and stuff but still uses some of the vocals, lead guitar and sax to a great effect. Wonderful! A must have for Bowie and Sendelica fans. As always, this will be limited issue so hurry up!

sendelica.bandcamp.com

Otrovna Kristina - S/T

Sulatron Records (st 1601)

Otrovna Kristina is a new Croatian early 70s styled hard rock band singing in their own language. As far as I know, this is their first release and a bit of a surprise for Sulatron Records who are known for the ultra trippy/spacey/hypnotic releases. Having said that, I understand why Dave decided to put this album out since these guys know what they are doing and they do it well and with a tight, rocking touch. Too bad that this is exactly the kind of music that I'm pretty tired of, there are just too many bands in Scandinavia, U.K., main Europe & the U.S.A. playing this kind of stuff. But that's of course just my opinion, and not Otrovna Kristina's fault!

The album includes 10 relatively short songs. These guys can write great songs that vary enough and there is also some keyboards in there to give more dimensions, just listen to the more atmospheric track "Poljubi mme u trece oko". Most of the tracks are hard rocking and energetic, and we get lots of cool guitar solos which makes the songs more interesting for me at least. Sometimes Otrovna Kristina reminds me of  Josiah from the U.K. but mostly without the stoner vibe. "Lubav je bol" is a bit heavier and gloomier than the rest of the tracks and is not so strictly 70s in vibe. "Pita" is another a bit different track. The last track "Viking" gets closer to N.W.O.B.H.M. These guys are great musicians and the vocals are very good too, so if you can't get enough of early 70s styled hard rock check them out.

www.otrovnakristina.com 

Vert:x - Annwn + reissues

Self-released CD-R

Vert:x is motorik, kosmische space/psych/kraut/drone rock band from Chester, U.K. It was founded by Neil Whitehead, who has recruited some like-minded friends to join in for live gigs as well as recordings. All the albums have only been put out on limited, self-released CD-R's, but in 2015 Neil produced some officially printed high quality CD-R's of all the albums that are available from the band. Vinyl freaks are also delighted by the fact that the band has collaborated with Fruits de Mer Records since 2011, so there is also stuff out on vinyl! I think I have previously reviewed all the other releases except the latest album Annwn, so I will now concentrate on that one.

I was delighted to notice that Fred Laird of Earthling Society has been playing with Neil, in studio as well as live, since the previous album, The Mindstealers (check out my review over here ). He has also produced Annwn, which I think means some progress  in sound quality. The music style still remains the same, so you can expect repetitive programmed beats, pounding, hypnotic bass, spacey effects & synth and heavy, experimental & psychedelic guitars. The music reminds me of Hawkwind, Chrome and Neu! but with a punky, rough touch. The wholly instrumental album has six tracks and lasts for 51 minutes. Fred's and Vince's fluent lead guitar work on several tracks  is perhaps the most noticeable change. The album starts off with the raw ten-minute mind-blower "A Witch" that seems to crush your skull with its heavy, repetitive riff and weird sound effects and stuff. Mugstar brings to mind, and I know Neil is a fan of theirs too. "Atom A.K." sounds more like space rock (especially Hawkwind/Farflung/Jet Jaguar style) and even has some melodies, very nice. "Surf Crayola" is a weird, dirty & experimental punk/surf piece, good to have something pretty different on the album. "Dead Zone" is the shortest track on the track at 3:03 and also has manipulated vocals on top of the heavy, pounding space rock, which is cool. The title track "Annwn" begins in a more esoteric, atmospheric way, but soon the motorik beat is added and here we go again. This still has a lighter, Neu! like vibe. Cool! The album is finished with the magnus opus "Yn Ol I Annwn" that lasts for almost 19 minutes. After the strange ambient drone intro, the space rocking begins again. Lots of strange and deranged stuff going on in this one... The last three of four minutes are just weird effects and echoes warping you mind pretty hard! What a great album, and it's great to have some fresh influences and ideas into the music.

The new 2015 versions of the albums A.F.M.O.M.A.H.E. and Ggantija have been expanded with some bonus tracks. The titles of both albums have an added "+" to make this clear... One of the best tracks from A.F.M.O.M.A.H.E still remains "Space Junk" that features Nico and Lavro from Croatian freak rock band Seven That Spells that gives this track a special vibe. The demos of "Cube Abuse" and "Ggantija" also work pretty well. Ggantija has a demo version of the slower "A.F.M. Speaks" that maybe is a bit lo-fi sounding, but still suits the vibe very well. One of the highlights from that album is the hypnotic opener "Orthostat". All the band's CD-R's are definitely wort getting if you like experimental, psychedelic and plain weird space/kraut rock. The band is also looking for a label to release a proper album so let's hope we can get a real CD and vinyl full-length by them soon.

www.facebook.com/vertx-188158031261704

Blaak Heat - Shifting Mirrors

Svart Records / Tee Pee Records

Blaak Heat (who have now dropped the last part Shujaa from their name) is a psychedelic stoner rock band originally formed in Paris in 2008 bu guitarist/singer Thomas Bellier and friends. I really liked their 2013 Tee Pee Records album The Edge of an Era, where they already combined stoner/desert rock, prog and other kinds of Western music with Arabic/Eastern influences and instrumentation . The band has now relocated to the U.S.A. and the bass player and drummer of Nebula have joined in. Shifting Mirrors is the band's third full-length and will be released next month. On this album Blaak Heat goes even deeper into the mystical Eastern vibes still not forgetting the heavy stoner rock part of their great sound.

The progressive opener "Anatolia" is an instrumental with strong Turkish psych rock influences. The melodies and rhythms really sound very Anatolian, so well done. "Sword of Hakim" is one of the best tracks and rather heavy too... Just check the video below! The longest track "The Approach To Al-Mu'tasim" starts off in ambient, Middle Eastern mode making you feel you are in ancient Persia of something. The feeling continues when the track really starts with great percussion work and progressive rhythms. Now where are those belly dancers? I can also smell the black smoke... Brilliant! You are inside an exotic party/orgy in One Thousand and One Nights. The short "Taqsim" takes you deeper into the Arabian desert at night, and "Ballad of Zeta Brown" is a heavy and groovy stoner/psych rock blasting with progressive rock (and even Western movie soundtrack!) leanings. Karma to Burn or Nebula comes to mind, in fact. Great instrumental! Okay, the tight and heavy rocking ""Black Hawk" cuts like a razor sharp saber and is another highlight for me... There really are no fillers on this one! The instrumental "Mola Mamad Djan" gets more Oriental again, very nice and authentic vibes. "Tamazgha" is a bit more relaxed instrumental, and "The Peace Within" another killer track with great vocals that somehow brings to mind early Pink Floyd and Voivod at times. "Dance Nomad" ends the album in a rather slow and atmospheric style. I'm somehow reminds me of another desert psych band Black Sun Ensemble... This is a really great, interesting and mesmerizing album and definitely worth checking out!

www.blaakheatshujaa.com 


 

Yoshiwara Collective #1

Yoshiwara (named after a famous red-light district in 17th century Edo, now Tokyo...or more likely after a nightclub in Fritz Lang's legendary 1927 movie Metropolis) is a brand new psychedelic rock etc.  magazine from Ireland. One of the three editors of Yoshiwara Collective is Danny Angus, who many of us know from his long-running Pariah Child label/psych-metal mail order/web site.

This first issue really is a labour of love for "proggy folk psychedelic drone space rock", and has taken quite a lot of time and effort to put together. It's quite small (A5) which makes it easy to take with you to keep good company on trips, but has 104 (!) pages, so someone could even call it a book. The covers are in full colour, the inside pages in black and white and easy to read. It's very professionally printed on thick paper so it should also survive the winds of time pretty well. The page numbering doesn't always exactly match with the table of contents but that's just a minor fault.

So what's inside? The magazine focuses on new psych music, so there are no articles on nostalgic 60s garage rock bands etc. which is fine. Also, the idea seems to be to bring forth some of the best stuff going on in the undercurrent/underground of psych in all its manifestations which is even better if you ask me. So no HUGE names involved. There are 15 interviews with current psych acts from all over the world. Some of them happen to be my personal favourites like Krautzone from Germany (interviewed already in November 2014), Lamp of the Universe from New Zealand (very spiritual stuff...), Earthling Society (U.K), ST 37 (U.S.A.) and Flowers Must Die (Sweden), so I'm delighted to know what's going on with these guys. I had no idea that Annot Rhül from Norway were still making music, since I had not heard anything about them since Sulatron released their CD in 2007. I must have totally missed their 2014 album on Black Widow, so I need to get that now! Also, it was great to read an interview with Finnish synth lazer metal band Nightsatan who I really like! Check them out if you haven't already. There are many bands involved that I was not that (if at all) familiar with: Owl Glitters, Woven Skull, Black Panda Beach, Brigid Mae Power, Moloch/Saturn Form Essence, Trupa Trupa, Sangre de Muerdago & Demantia Five. Lots of new, interesting & varied stuff to investigate into!

Kommun 2 is a small record label from Malmö, Sweden, that has given us some of the coolest underground psych/space/prog/folk rock from Scandinavia on limited vinyl for some time now, so it was about time someone interviewed them!  Another label feature is with Giallo Disco, a "horror disco" label that I hadn't previously heard about. There are also short album reviews and other bits in between the features, which is cool. The mag does not include any adds expect one for Yoshiwara's own music releases. All in all, this is very welcome new addition to the good old printed psych magazine family and has a personal, new twist to keep things fresh and interesting. The price of the magazine is only £4 plus postage. Warmly recommended!

www.yoshiwaracollective.co.uk

Malady - S/T

Svart Records ‎(SVR403)

Malady is a new Finnish group certainly obsessed with old early 70s Finnish progressive rock bands like Haikara, Elonkorjuu (both mentioned in the opening track...), Wigwam, Tasavallan Presidentti etc. Like most of their influences, they sing in Finnish.  I am also immediately thinking about the similarities to Sammal, their contemporaries in this field and also recording for Svart Records. But that's not a bad thing: there's obviously room and market for more bands like this with genuine vintage progressive vibe and some psychedelic spices thrown in the mix! This self-titled album is the Helsinki-based band's debut and works really well. The album has gotten a warm welcome from the prog rock fanatics and the first vinyl pressing is already sold-out from the label.

The 39-minute album has six original compositions, two of which are instrumentals. I really like both the instrumentals and the songs with vocals, and the singer has a soft, emotional voice that fits perfectly the mostly atmospheric and never too hard, heavy or difficult to digest music. I'm not saying this is all sweet, dreamy and soft, it has some tougher, more progressive and energetic parts as well and some wild organ and guitar solos which is cool. The playing is excellent and the sound just perfect for this kind of music.The instrumentation is what you might have expected: guitar, bass, drums and Hammond organ plus keyboards so nothing out of the ordinary there, but that's really all it needs to make pleasant, evocative and adventurous vintage prog. The album is finished with the short, beautiful acoustic instrumental "Kakarlampi" that also has some folk vibes. My favourite track is maybe the opener "Kantaa taakan maa" that I also included in my latest Astral Visions show, but the material really is very strong throughout with no fillers. I have not seen this band live yet but I bet they will be awesome. Check them out if you are into early 70s styled, well-crafted high-quality prog rock!

www.facebook.com/maladyband

Dj Astro spins records together with IVA Karhu tomorrow!

I will be DJing with the mighty IVA Karhu tomorrow @ Kuudes Linja, Helsinki at the Oranssi Pazuzu show.

Come and join us in the ritual...

www.facebook.com/events/177886069234407/

Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä

Svart Records / 20 Buck Spin

Värähtelijä is the fourth album by Finnish psychedelic, hypnotic black/occult metal band Oranssi Pazuzu. They have also released one split album with Candy Cane. This time the band goes even deeper into the dark, mesmerizing void of heady, heavy and trance-inducing atmospheres. They have perfected the combination of ultra heavy guitars and growling vocals with hypnotic and atmospheric vibes that put your mind on an never ending downwards spiral. You can hear influences of old-school and modern black metal, but they also have used a lot of different influences from Circle, for example. There are plenty of progressive and experimental elements as well. The second track "Lahja" could easily be a Circle track from the mid-nineties without the ghostly vocals. The dreamy, ultra-hypnotic title track also is more atmospheric and at first even brings to mind some post-rock groups. Having said that, the dark presence of evil can be sensed throughout the album, especially on the vocals and guitars. This is scary and deep stuff and definitely not for the lighthearted. The aggressive "Hypnotisoitu viharukous" is one of the most black metal oriented tracks, and won't let any fans of the genre cold (or should I say warm?). The longest track is "Vasemman käden hierarkia" that lasts for closer to 18 minutes! What a great, dark trip it is too... There are lots of different elements on this one, but it's all pure darkness and gloom. The album is finished with the almost ambient "Valveavaruus". If you can handle almost 70 minutes of mind-bending, soul-crushing madness without any sight of daylight, this album is a must-have.

The CD is already available and the 2LP will be released tomorrow, when the band also start their European tour playing at Kuudes Linja, Helsinki. Go check them out live too, if you dare! I know I will be there in a very hypnotized, out-of-this-world state and enjoying every second of it.

www.oranssipazuzu.com

Anton Barbeau - Magic Act

Mystery Lawn Music (MLM017)

I first pumped into alternative/indie rock artist Anton Barbeau's music when his King of Missouri CD was released on Nick Saloman's (The Bevis Frond) Woronzow Records in 2002. The album featured also The Bevis Frond members Nick, Adrian Shaw (ex-Magic Muscle, ex-Hawkwind etc.) and Andy Ward (ex-Camel etc.), so it sure was something special and also has quite a lot of psychedelic overtones. Anton also sent me his 2006 album In The Village Of The Apple Sun for review, and that was another winner. At some point Anton moved from the U.S. to live and make music is Germany and U.K. He was also involved in a U.K. band called Three Minute Tease whose great psych pop/rock CD I have also reviewed. Lately, he has released some stuff on Fruits de Mer Records, like the 7" Psychedelic Mynde of Moses, that I really loved. Magic Act is his brand-new album and the first one to also be released on vinyl.

Magic Act was recorded all over Europe and U.K. and in addition to multi-instrumentalist-singer /all around musical genius Anton features 13 guest musicians. The CD includes 13 new (?) songs of very nice, melodic, harmonic, catchy indie pop/rock. Some of the songs are quite far from psychedelia, but luckily there is some psych elements left on several tracks. My favourites can be found in the middle of the album: the Beatlesque (and yes, rather psychelic!) "Black Lemon Sauce" and the excellent and trippy "Heavy Psychedelic Toilet", that for some unfathomable reason has been dropped from the vinyl version released in Spain on You Are Cosmos. You can hear the latter on my latest Astral Visions show. There are several other gems in there too of course, but more in the alternative/indie rock/pop vein. "City by the Sea" has some funky vibes. Some of the tracks also have some experimental vibes like programmed beats etc., but all are still rather accessible and not too hard to digest or enjoy. Beck fans might like this album a lot, for example. Ant really has ear for great melodies which is always a big plus, and also has a unique voice.There's a certain amount of humor in the cool lyrics too, and the album sort of cheers you up in a nice way, although it also has its melancholic moments. Everything is very well arranged and produced. Check this out!

www.antonbarbeau.com