WOODLANDS

Swedish band BARRETT ELMORE was formed in 2008, initially as a trio playing a rough variety of blues. The threesome soon found psychedelic music more interesting to explore, however, and from 2009 and onwards that has been their choice of stylistic expression, an alteration that also saw Mikaela Eriksson join the band. "Woodlands" is their debut album, and was released by the US label Trail Records in the spring of 2012.

Gentle and careful psychedelic progressive rock is what Barrett Elmore provides on their debut album "Woodlands", dampened ethereal themes and movements with a distinct mystical atmosphere, with occasional lapses of darker tinged moods applied to good effect. I'd single out fans of early Pink Floyd and The Doors to be something of a key audience, and those with a soft spot for contemporary bands such as The Future Kings Of England might also want to investigate this fine Swedish quartet.

BARRETT ELMORE sounds like a singer/songwriter name, you know? Completely wrong though, my dear. Here we have an interesting young quartet from Sweden which is exercising a strong 60/70's retrospective psychedelia touch. To mention (early) Pink Floyd is not out of touch as a consequence - the term Barrett gets a new meaning then. Yep, their debut album 'Woodland' is something special, bears a cool, dreamy atmosphere, typical nordic melancholy, celestial vocals and intense hallucinative moments.

Entrance opens with a distinct Bo Hansson feeling where the follower The Creek appears more in an acid folk outfit including nice female vocals. The couple Drowning and The Storm represents the multi-coloured core, brilliant song-writing featuring scary moments, trippy impressions and excellent guitar work. Jefferson Airplane leanings are shimmering through here and there. Some motifs are shared during the course, this also applies to running water and birds' twittering which occurs in several cases, obviously reflecting the relationship with nature.

The extended bonus track Psilocybe Semilanceata constitutes the ultimate challenge at the end - an experimental track which forces to put on the headphones - the unpredictable queue of different impressions where you can count in drum freak out, sitar drone, freaky vocals, electronic gimmicks, piano excursion, psychedelic jamming aso aso. 'Woodland' is an exemplary late starter to me - manufactured with care as usual by US label TRAIL Records this album has some wonderful pearls to offer which are growing with every listening experience.

Barrett Elmore's latest effort, Woodlands, brings to the table what I consider to be a fine representation of psychedelic prog that sounds extremely classic while maintaining a modern edge. Buried beneath ambient layers of chorusy guitars and grooving basslines there is something definitively Swedish going on here, perhaps it's that tad bit of haunting melancholy that permeates songs such as the title track, "Woodlands." While psychedelic isn't generally my cup of tea, I will say that thoroughly enjoyed this album and recommend it to all, especially to those who are into the Swedish scene in general and those who are have been wanting to dig a little more into psychedelic prog but haven't yet done so.