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Cranium Pie: The Geometry of Thistles
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Lunartica Records (LUNAR LP 001)
 The English psych/prog rock group Cranium Pie should be pretty well-known to all the readers of Psychotropic Zone by now but if not be sure to check out their previous album Mechanisms Part 1 right away. I, like many others, was first introduced to this fine band through the releases on Bracken Records and Fruits de Mer. Put out on Cranium Pie’s own label on limited vinyl and CD editions with hand-made and numbered covers, The Geometry of Thistles includes a bit more folk styled but experimental and highly psychedelic tracks recorded in between 2006 and 2009. Although this is a sort of an archive release the experimental material is of top-notch quality and the journey into the mushroom land is guaranteed. At times the material might sound a bit sketchy but still very good.
The album’s title track starts off the trip at first with very hallucinatory soundscapes and then we’ve got some beautiful and peaceful acoustic guitar and laid-back lead guitar with sound effects. Soon there’s also some light rhythm and harmonic, effected vocals. This one has an excellent, dreamy vibe! ”Master of Mystery” is a short, experimental and magical folk instrumental. The familiar sounding, organ-driven ”Rememberrred…” is like from Pink Floyd’s More soundtrack and “Trawler Man” like early 70’s pretty psych folk in the vein of Incredible String Band. In between the track, there is a full version of the experimental piece ”There It Is” that includes for example whistles and electronics and has been previously released on the Monstrous Bubble 1 compilation.
The second side opens with the peaceful and beautiful acoustic folk song ”The Castle by the Sea” that also has some superb Mellotron things. The short Medieval folk piece ”Animals and Wood” creates a bit Circulus-like mood and then follows the minimal and hazy instrumental “Soft Landing” that includes acoustic guitar and synthesizer. The album is finished with its longest (7:44) number “Granny’s Wall” that has experimental, electronic rhythm, keyboards, synthesizers and heavily treated vocals. This is really psychedelic going and in fact brings to mind Nick Nicely’s early 80’s output a bit! These fellows really got it. The vinyl comes with an insert that has the lyrics and a nice painting on the other side. I guess he CD includes the same but in miniature size. This is a truly amazing album and you should get it while it’s still available somewhere.
www.craniumpie.co.uk |
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