It's Sweetpool Week all week in Outsideleft as we welcome the release of their new LP, 3am, A Head Of Snakes. Today, Jonathan Thornton concludes, the new LP is sweet!
SWEETPOOL
3am A Head Full of Snakes
(Slow Century Records)
From the opening ghostly keyboard that opens ‘Superunnatural’, to be interrupted by motorik drums, a chugging guitar riff and atonal synthesiser bleeps, it’s clear that Sweetpool are immediately onto something special. This is psychedelic music from the point of attack. Made up of Nic Beales (lead vocals, guitar), Jason Holgate (bass, backing vocals, moog) and Ant Cook (drums, backing voices), Sweetpool are modern day psychedelic warlords. They sound like Hawkwind in a particularly bad mood, or the Fall in a particularly humorous mood, or like NEU! fuelled by rage and weird jokes. They expertly balance psychedelic noise freakouts with catchy hooks and wry lyrics. They’re the best space rock band you’ve never heard of, and their third album 3AM, A Head Of Snakes should really change that.
The record storms out of the gates with ‘Superunnatural’, like Hawkwind’s ‘Shot Down In The Night’ if it was about an idiot who buys a gun to make himself look big. From the song’s aggressive krautrock groove to its ludicrously catchy shouted chorus, it’s immediately clear that these guys mean business. The pace barely lets up for the next 40 minutes. ‘You’re Like a Mirror’ features some great Hawkwind-esque sax and furiously buzzing keyboards, while the bassline powers the whole thing along with the phrenetic propulsion of vintage Can. Beales uses the lyrics to humorously reflect on his own shortcomings. The way he sarcastically wields images drawn from pop culture, record collector culture and the grimness of British life in the 21st century puts me in mind of Nick Saloman’s hilarious tirades on Bevis Frond albums. ‘The Birds Have Flown’ slows down a bit for a sinister kind of glam stomp, aided by some great Psycho-sounding violins. ‘No One Believes Anything Any More’ is a scathing rant against our current age of misinformation. Its monstrous bassline and shrieking synthesisers bely the song’s inherent catchiness – this is a favourite trick of Sweetpool, managing to find the pop in pure psychedelic chaos. ‘Moon’ sees the band get down and funky, with spooky guitars and cyclic flute that recall Gong at their most punk. This is the closest the band get to writing a ballad. ‘You Made This’ is a Roxy-esque glam shimmer that almost sounds like how Pulp might if Jarvis Cocker was berating the powers that be for destroying the world.
Side two is just as energetic, chaotic and full of surprising pop moves. It feels somewhat more reflective than side one, but that’s not to say Sweetpool give you time to get bored, or even catch your breath. ‘Kicking Cans’ is about our tendency to pass the buck, whether the problem is pollution or crumbling relationships. Its krautrock motorik chug leads to a surprisingly dub-inflected chorus and instrumental section that climaxes with a mutant rockabilly riff. ‘Magic Food’ rattles along from dub-eque verses to a chorus that sounds like the Fall collapsing in on themselves, as Beales directs his ire towards the world’s various snake oil salesmen. Again none of this quite explains how bizarrely catchy the end result is. ‘The Fruit That Hangs Just Out Of Reach’ is built around a lurching riff that builds up to an almost wistful sax-infused chorus. Like all the best bands, Sweetpool constantly sound like they’re playing on the very verge of collapse, yet have the musicianship to effortlessly pull it back each time. The album’s final two tracks are its most devastating. ‘The Wreck’ summons the dark ambience of Eno’s Roxy Music at their most atonal, whilst closer ‘Meeting No One From The Train’ is a creepy spoken word piece over uneasy pulsating electronics that recalls the Legendary Pink Dots at their most malevolent. It’s a powerful end to a striking album.
3AM, A Head Of Snakes is not just a collection of fantastic songs that are crying out for live performances. It’s a portal into an alternate world where psychedelia at its darkest and most primal remained an integral part of pop music. Every track on Sweetpool’s new album could be a hit single in this alternate reality, where radio listeners everywhere worship at the alter of Hawkwind and NEU! rather than today’s anodyne pop offerings. Will it get Sweetpool the crossover audience they clearly deserve? It’s too early to say, but don’t bet on this band not shattering the walls of our reality to replace it with one that better suits them.
SWEETPOOL WEEK IN OUTSIDELEFT
MON: It's Sweetpool Week All Week in Outsideleft → | Record Release In-Store at Slow Century →
TUES: Happy Shopper with Jase →
WEDS: Happy Shopper Ant → | Interview with Nic →
THU: 3AM. LP review by Jonathan Thornton → | Happy Shopper with Nic →
FRI: Some Songs Sweetpool really need you to know about...
essential information
Sweetpool main image live photo by Betty P, studio photo by Louise Holgate
Sweetpool's website is here →
