(A Recordings/Inertia)

A disappointing outing from BJM frontman and his Icelandic collaborator

The new Brian Jonestown Massacre EP arrived with little fanfare. It’s kind of fluorescent green with an orange and white English cross on it. Opener The Serious Matter is a sludgy, chugging rocker, and pretty standard for the band. I Alvoru Talad is almost the same song, but the characteristic, reverberated half-yelps are in Icelandic – as the record is a collaboration between frontman Anton Newcombe and Icelandic artist Jon Saemundur Audarson. Tempo 116.7 (Reaching For Dangerous Levels Of Sobriety) is a dreamy mix of polyrhythmic percussion, spacious guitars and nonsensical, pseudo-indigenous vocals. It would probably be a lot better if (a) it didn’t sound like Who Fucking Pissed In My Well? off 2008’s My Bloody Underground, and (b) The Mighty Boosh hadn’t jokingly made similar fantasy psych that’s more interesting. Tempo 116.7 (Clean Acid / Dirty Beats) is, again, almost the same song. Super Fucked is different, with big reverberated guitar washes, metronomic drums and pulsing bass. It doesn’t really go anywhere though, despite some tantalising strings towards its conclusion. Side C and D of the double 12-inch have etched artwork by Audarson, but we only got the CD. The EP isn’t terrible, but it only has about three songs on it between two composers, and at this stage in Newcombe’s career its a little disappointing. This one is for fans only.

JAKEB SMITH

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