ØSC meets BMC - Freak Out in the Fjord

Space Rock Productions (SRP059)

Phew, this is a massive two-hour/2CD/3LP release of improvised, psychedelic space rock of the highest quality... Øresund Space Collective played in 2017 in Norway together with Dr Space's another, Norwegian band Black Moon Circle and the next day a studio jam session took place. It must have been an enormous task to set up three drum kits, two guitar set ups, two bass set ups and all the synths, keyboards and the violin that you can experience on this release! There are nine musicians on board altogether.

The album includes just four, VERY long jams. "Rendezvous in the Nebula" starts off slowly and builds up like jams often do. It has a very hypnotic, repetitive, uplifting and spacey mood until it gets slower and sort of bluesy before the 14-minute marker for another ten minutes or so.  Very nice! The next, jazzy jam is called "Afterglow in the Sea of Sirens" and has cool & groovy Fender Rhodes among other things. Some very inspired, amazing guitar playing on this one too! Things get heavier towards the end. The over 30-minute "Dinner With Gregg A and Jerry G" is, as you might have guessed, sort of inspired by The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band, so it's has that late 60s/ early 70s jam rock vibe. Of course the spacey synths add other layers as well as always... When things really get rolling I must hold on to my brain for not exploding it! Some pretty wild stuff in there. The longest jam is called "Freak Out in the Fjord" at 36 minutes. I love Jonathan's violin here as well as the groovy, sort of creeping rhythm section. This is probably the highlight for me with intense, heavy, a bit dark and mind-blowing vibes. Øyvin is playing some cool guitar as well. Proper heavy, psychedelic space rock, I would say! It must have been a challenge to mix together these big jam sessions but the end result is stunning. The last two jams have been cut in half for the 3LP (290 copies on coloured, 184 on black vinyl) version and some of the tracks on the 2CD (500 copies) version are a bit longer than on vinyl but it all works out very well. I love the amazing cover art too. Warmly recommended! If you happen to be in Stockholm tonight, go see ØSC and BMC in action at Melody Box!

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