I don’t know what’s in the water in Vancouver, but the city has been producing an obscene amount of quality psych and garage music over the last couple of years. Today’s Record of the Day, Join! by Resurrection Committee, with equal parts dark psychedelia, surf, and garage supported by great song writing and skillful playing, is the perfect example of how that scene has been blossoming recently.
I first took note of Resurrection Committee in early 2017. At the time, I’d done a couple of interviews with other Vancouver bands and they all seemed to be sharing stages around town with a band then-known as Thee Magic Circle. Rarely one to miss a lead – like a magpie attracted to shiny objects, I move through this world accumulating a never-ending list of bands and scenes and songs and albums that catch my ears – I tracked down the band on Bandcamp and YouTube and I’ve been a fan ever since.
I’ve been listening to Join! nearly non-stop for more than two weeks and, to be honest, I’ve had a hard time picking just one or two songs as favourites for today. The album is tight and cohesive and showcases a band that has a clear POV and a solid sense of its strengths.
The album opens with Kerosene, lilting you through nearly three minutes of brooding psychedelia before picking up the tempo and crashing into you like a wave. Black Lagoon keeps the tempo up, with guitars swirling around you in all directions, while Nebelung, Drop Your Skin – with the addition of sitar – and Jesus, draw you deeper, like a slow ride across a desert following the illusion of an oasis just out of reach.
Black Lagoon – Live at 333, Vancouver (02/14/2017)
Jesus – Live at The Colbalt, Vancouver (04/27/2017)
The mood continues on Desire You, one of a handful of tracks that was previously released as a single and one of the highlights of the band’s repertoire, in my humble opinion. Instrumental track, The Trip, increases the pace and further reveals the band’s surf prowess, while Backdoor and Mary maintain the psychedelic energy through to Mad for a Cat, which climbs up, up, up to a crescendo before gently placing you back on earth to end the album.
Desire You – Live at The Colbalt, Vancouver (04/27/2017)
The band has a lot of big things planned for 2018: to coincide with the release of the album, a few weeks ago the band retired the name Thee Magic Circle and emerged as Resurrection Committee. In addition, they are planning to move from Vancouver to Montreal in the spring, and have two more releases expected this year, including an EP in April and another full length album in the coming months.
Join! is currently available on Bandcamp for a pay-what-you’d-like price… so what are you waiting for?
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