Custard Flux - Oxygen

 Self-released (CFX002)

The third Custard Flux album Oxygen was released last September so I'm a bit late with my review, sorry about that! Anyway, Gregory Curvey (currently living in Detroit, Michigan, from the band The Luck of Eden Hall) continues with his acoustic psychedelic prog project in a style similar to the previous albums Echo and Helium. So the main instruments are ancient harmonium, acoustic guitars and acoustic drum set. There are also some electric guitar leads and some guests on sax and violin, for example. You might thing that this is some kind of folk music, but it is in fact still rock music, just played almost completely with acoustic instruments! This fact gives the music a rather fresh, original and interesting twist. Oxygen is one of those albums that were made during the great covid-19 lockdown of 2020 and you can see that for example on some of the songs like "Quarantyne".

Curvey uses lots of different time signatures which adds progressive vibe although the music is never TOO difficult or hard to follow, on the contrary very enjoyable and nice. There is a certain pop element in most of the songs, sort of like The Beatles had, as well. But there are also lots of unusual chord progressions and darker moments for sure. I also really like the dreamy, peaceful parts. Curvey has a great sense for melody and harmony and all the playing is top-notch. I like his unique and instantly recognizable singing voice but the instrumentals also work great. Oxygen was featured on several best of lists of 2020 and I can understand why since this really is a masterpiece. I think the two very limited vinyl editions might be pretty much sold-out everywhere but the CD should still be available. At least you can buy the digital download also including two extra tracks from the Bandcamp site! Curvey has also agreed to record some stuff to a few of my Astral Magic songs, can't wait to hear what he comes up with...

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