The Lysergics are the London based trio of Fabio Mongelli on guitar and vocals, Sarah Gonputh on organ, bass keyboard and vocals, and Eleanora Claps on drums and vocals. With a name like The Lysergics and a glance at the album art you can take a pretty good guess as to what the music is about.
Blue Lines Splashing Orange and Invisible Bars are both high energy Psych rockers with classic 60s organ, bubbling acid-fuzz guitar and screaming licks, propulsive driving beats and excellent melodies. Fabio sings the trippy lyrics with harmony backing from Sarah and Eleanora on these tunes that mine the most… errrr… “lysergic” moments of 60s Psychedelia. The Sun And The Moon is similar but with a monster injection of the dirtiest fuzzed out rhythm guitar imaginable, but also tasty passionate leads from both guitar and organ. We’ve also got a cool cover of the Twink penned 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box, originally recorded by Tomorrow spinoff band The Aquarian Age. Killer organ and guitar solos on this tune.
There was something familiar about the album art and then I noticed that it’s credited to Vibravoid. And sure enough, there is much in The Lysergics music to appeal to Vibravoid fans. And, like Vibravoid, The Lysergics combine shorter songs with lengthier stretch-out tunes. The 10+ minute On The Water is a seductively hallucinatory song that combines Eastern influenced Psych and a trippy West Coast sound. Multi-layered sitar drone patterns underlie the steadily strolling and slightly robotic beat of the song which features ominously haunting organ lines and totally tripped out guitar, some of which gets nicely eruptive. Sarah or Eleanora take the lead vocals on this one and there are plenty of instrumental workouts in which the guitar and organ take off and explore. The 15 minute Julie’s Glance starts off like the earlier songs but quickly sets a throb pounding rhythmic pace over which the guitar goes off into the most wigged out soloing of the set. This is a total guitar freakout jam with drums bashing away relentlessly and the organ cranking out both fuzzed and eerily haunting melodies and hypnotic sustained lines. After a while we’re surprised by a harmonica joining in for a Blues jam, which sounds cool and strange alongside the 60s Psych organ. There’s even a drum solo segment which is assisted by some nifty atmospherics, and a finale that bursts the mercury for volcanic Psychedelic intensity.
In summary, The Lysergics are a hard rocking band that wear their 60s influences proudly on their shirtsleeves and do it REEEEEALY good! The combination of well-crafted songs and instrumental workouts is their strength. Let your freak flags fly…
The LP is limited to 500 hand numbered 180 gr vinyl copies with a beautiful gatefold cover. It includes 3 postcard band member pictures, a lyric sheet and blurb about the band by Twink. Options for vinyl junkies include black (200), purple marbled (200), and a special colour-split “die hard” edition in a cotton sleeve.
The LP is available from Clostridium Records at: http://www.clostridiumrecords.com
Stream and download at: https://thelysergics.bandcamp.com
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz