Melody Fields: Melody Fields 2018

 

Melody Fields is a swedish psychedelic rock band formed in Gothenburg by Thomas Widholm,

Ramo Spatalovic and David Henriksson in 2015. The music has a lot of different elements and is a bringer of psychedelic vibes, an oriental approach with repetitive jangly guitars and three harmony vocals
                         

               
This album is quite simply beautiful and breathtaking from start to finish. Psychedelic rock at its

finest, each track is a gem. On Tradgransen the band stretch out and really let loose with some phenomenal guitar licks. The arrangements, vocals and musicianship are of the highest order. A serious contender for album of the year and maybe one of the best albums of the genre in recent years. This will be a highlight of my ever expanding CD collection!
                             

the band attempt to weave together jangling guitars, three part harmonized vocals while lacing it all

together with oriental influences to bring about a hypnotic psychedelic effect, though conceptually the music doesn’t actually come off as smooth and flowing. The song “Liberty” is a fine extension of “Morning Sun,” drenched with visionary wonder and hushed vocals, emancipated by sensational and unexpected guitar work that washes the song with a timeless quality of expansion and shimmering delight.
                       

“Run” relies far too heavily on repetitive drumming and repetitive guitar chords that are deeply

weighted and confining, offering none of the freedom and emancipation of “Liberty.” “Rain Man” succeeds in bringing the band back on course, and in a very Beatlesque fashion manages to achieve that dream laden quality of lysergic wanderlust.
                    

                            
“Fire” tumbles nicely next to “Rain Man” sustaining the vocal lines with elliptical swirling reverberations of atmospheric intoxication that roam with a spacious ease. The album’s center piece

“Trädgränsen” is meant to be a sonic opus, but again, like “Run” the song with its funeral dirge drumming locks the number firmly in place, offering no freedom for the first five minutes, then attempts to build on that construct with more flowering guitar work, though morphs into a Nico-ish Velvet Underground fevered assault on your entire being for the remaining four minutes, until the track walks backwards into the song’s beginning, ending in a dreamlike fashion, as if it never were there … and while good, just seems to serve no purpose.
                      

The compact disc and digital album end with a reprise of sorts “Morning Sun (revisited),” yet again

sounding as if it were lifted straight from the cutting room floor of the Velvet Underground, and actually had me straining my ears, sure that they were infusing the track with lyrical elements of those long lost days.
                           

Great dreamy music, a nice psych edge on most of it. Hands down one of the best Psych Rock

records I have heard all year. 'Morning Sun' floats dreamily back to the kaleidoscopic days of the 60's, all mind melting soaked Eastern instrumentation and melody. Beautiful Byrds like harmonies can be found on 'Run', while the band are on fire on 'Tradgransen' which moves from a shamanic trance towards a full blown acid rock opera. A Wonderful album!
                                 

The music present on this disc is probably best described as a collision of shoegazing pop and Swedish

counterculture psychedelia. Imagine Träd, Gräs & Stenar or GOAT trying to sound like My Bloody Valentine at their peak. Think now of endless summer nights, infinite access to weed and a 24-7 flying carpet service and you get a glimpse of what is going on here.
                      

Melody Fields spring out of Gothenburg and are thus the latest wonder from Sweden’s west coast music

revolution. The music has been recorded at Studio Parkeringshuset where Hills, GOAT and The Movements have made their albums. Among the guest musicians are Holy Wave’s (US) Dustin Zozaya on mellotron and Nils Börén on saxophone.  
                    

Melody Fields – Melody Fields
Label: Sound Effect Records – SERC 047
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Bonus Track
Country: Greece
Released: Mar 2, 2018
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

TRACKS

                         

01. Morning Sun    4:32
02. Liberty    5:09
03. Run    6:14
04. Rain Man    5:10
05. Fire     4:33
06. Trädgränsen    10:08

CD ONLY BONUS TRACK      
    
07. Morning Sun (Revisited)    2:57

LINE UP:
           

David Henriksson - Vocals, Guitars
Henrik Bäckström - Vocals, Guitars  
Jonnie Täll - Bass, Vocals
Ramo Spatalovic - Vocals, Guitars
Thomas Widholm - Drums

GUESTS

            

Dustin Zozaya - Mellotron  
Dolly Petersson - Piano
Nils Börén - Saxophone, Flute  
Lisa Zozaya - Vocals
   
NOTES

                    

CD: Limited edition of 300.
The CD edition includes one bonus track (7. "Morning Sun (Revisited)") that doesn't appear on the vinyl format.

MP3 @ 320 Size: 95.3 MB
Flac  Size: 259 MB