I found out recently that Will Sergeant, the only man to have been an ever present member of Echo And The Bunnymen, has had a fairly recent (2013) side project with an ex-Bunnyman (bassist Les Pattinson) and it is very good. I don't know how I missed this- and I'm sure some of you didn't- but it is new to me. Poltergeist is Will, Les and drummer Nick Kilroe. They put out an eight track instrumental excursion into psychedelic, open ended space rock called Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder) and on the basis of this track that's exactly what they will do. It also shows that Will is very much an inventive and distinctive guitarist and that stepping away from the Bunnymen is good for his artistic juices.
7 comments:
New to me. Amazing stuff, indeed. And as sleep has deserted me, here on the US east coast, this is hitting the spot all the more. Thanks.
Darren
Glad I can assist by soundtracking your insomnia.
I surprise myself that I never featured Poltergeist on my blog! The whole album is fantastic. You also get a sense of just how much of the Bunnymen sound, since their 1997 return is down to the mind of Will Sargent. Just listen to the opening track Cathedral and you are brought back to Heaven Up Here era Bunnymen, but with a renewed urgency and wider sonic range.
My favorite track on Your Mind Is A Box... is the penultimate - The Book Of Pleasures. Its filled with 45 years of psychedelia's expansions and contractions.
Hmmm...on the one hand it's nice to know the boys are still at it. On the other hand, Pattinson is still playing the same 3-note bass line he always did and, somehow, Sergeant has never developed as a guitarist at all in, what, 40 years? He's doing the same old riffs, just with a couple new stomp pedals in the mix. I am an absolute crap guitarist and I can play anything on any of his recordings, including this one. You don't have to listen too closely to this tune to hear when 'Never Stop' comes in. Glad that it's pleasing to some folks but Will and Les are off the map without Mac up front. Sorry Echorich...
This is getting good.
That's brilliant.
Reminds me a bit of Levitation. Terry Bicker early 90's psychedelic rockist band. Personally i preferred the Bunnymen's first Lp 'Crocodiles' as their best . pared down and urgent, before the bombast kicked in. It's not necessarily the virtuosity of players that makes great music. Will Seargent's spectacular use of dynamics seems to have been his brilliance as a player over the years.
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