Thistle

Description

Spirit Mother is back with *Thistle*, an album that grabs you from the first riff and doesn't let go. In recent years, the Californian band has quietly but surely made its mark on the underground "heavy-psych" scene; this album seems to mark the long-awaited decisive step in its career. The grooves are heavier, the melodies even more hypnotic, and the whole exudes an organic, almost swampy warmth, of undeniable authenticity. What strikes immediately is the ease with which Spirit Mother blends brutal fuzz attacks with ethereal passages, with folk accents. The dynamics are perfectly controlled: the calm and introspective moments amplify the power of the heaviest sequences. The rhythm section beats in unison, like a single heart, while the guitars oscillate between thunderous riffs and delicate melodic lines, bathed in reverb. As for the vocals, they hover over the whole like a specter drifting at the heart of a storm in the desert. *Thistle* is an album that, with each listen, reveals new psychedelic textures and new emotional depths. 1. Dog Machine / 2. Violent Son / 3. Coat Of Arms / 4. Narrows / 5. Prelude / 6. Locomotive Breath / 7. Good Faith / 8. Crux / 9. Ephemera / 10. Stranger, You Are / 11. Odetta / 12. Thistle / 13. Transient