Mark McDowell - Freedom Tapes

 Self-released

Freedom Tapes is the brand-new experimental psych rock/pop/folk album by Mark McDowell from Bristol, U.K. I was first introduced to him when Fruits de Mer put out a wonderful split 7" with him and Octopus Syng in 2013. I also reviewed his 2018 album Dark Weave (Friends of the Fish) and liked it a lot. I did miss his album Breakthrough in 2020, somehow. Anyway, let's see what we've got here this time.

The album includes 10 tracks, most around the 4-minute-marker in lenght. Most have a rather organic, acoustic feel, but sometimes Mark also rocks out. He sings, plays guitars, keyboards, drums & percussion. The collaborators are Pete Westaway: synth, John Hymas: strings and Juliet Winter: words, love and high vibes. There are some wonderful melodies and psychedelic effects that always makes this kind of music interesting and mesmerising for me. The music also has a hypnotic vibe. We have a couple of instrumentals on board too for a good balance. Especially the 6-minute "Zodiasi" is a real trip. The music was first recorded on cassette tapes and then manipulated and put together again digitally for a great, warm and sort of experimental result. I like Mark's music and his vocals and I think this album will be an important part of my Summer 2022 soundtrack. Check it out!

https://markmcdowell.bandcamp.com/