3rd Ear Experience: Stones Of A Feather

Unique to the Mojave Desert is the Joshua tree. Nowhere else in the world does it grow. It is in this setting the space rock band 3rd Ear Experience bring their psychedelic and hallucinogenic brand of trippiness to the masses. Well, hopefully masses as this music needs to be heard. These musicians seem to be drawn to this desert plant using it as a source of inspiration for the band's hypnotic musings.

3rd Ear Experience have been busy as they have released four albums in four years, their latest being Stones Of A Feather. I am new to their music as their past albums have seemingly gone unnoticed which is a real shame because if Stones Of A Feather is any indication they should be well worth hearing.

Faint sounds and effects begins "Flight of the Annunaki". Their seems to be a Native American influence in the voice and the sound is quite mellow and ambient. Synthesizer washes build, swirling in waves while still remaining somewhat introspective. As I sat and listened I waited for something bold to happen and just when I thought the ride would be mellow throughout the song's ten minutes, a heaviness was unleashed with wall of sound guitars and raging organ. For those of you into heavy space rock this ones the real deal. With "The Old Woman's Dance" the trippy synthesizers reverberate and buzz creating a fairly intense sound from the very start. Crashing drums and guitar riffs add to the heaviness. The sound eases in intensity only to begin the buildup once more. The electronic effects and use of guitars and synths adds to the psychedelic nature of the music. The repetitive riffs and floating keyboards and chilled out flute courtesy of Roger Arnold makes "Return of the Peacock" another immersive listening experience. The stoner rock guitar meanderings and all out trippy jam session of "Space Tripping" makes for another spaced out gem. And so it goes with the rest of the album.

What you get is seventy three minutes of pure psychedelic space rock joy that will have fans of the genre coming back for more. For me, this was another unexpected surprise from 2016.

Band members:
Robbi Robb (guitar)
Amritakripa (synthesizers, voices)
Jorge Bassman Carrillo (bass)
Alan Swanson (keyboards)
Richard Stuverud (drums)

Track Listing:
1. Flight of the Annunaki
2. The Old Woman's Dance
3. Return of the Peacock
4. Chungo
5. The Balladeer's Tale
6. Space Tripping (Live 2015)

Added: January 31st 2017
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2163
Language: english

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