BUSINESSMAN

Seemingly emerging into the 21st century as if they had been victims of The Montauk Project and transported from the fertile verdant Canterbury fields of the 1970s, THE BOOT LAGOON is one of the newer bands that has fully embraced the vintage sounds of the 1970s Canterbury Scene by adopting the whimsical jazz-rock sounds of bands like Caravan, Hatfield & The North and early Soft Machine. Rightfully the band actually hails from Canterbury, the epicenter of the sounds that nurtured a completely separate branch of progressive rock!

The band was formed in 2011 by Peter Edlin (guitar, vocals, percussion), Callum Magill (keyboards, piano, moog, vocals, percussion), Cameron Dawson (bass, vocals, percussion), Seth Deuchar (drums, flute, effects) and so far has hardly released any music at all! Shortly after the band's inception the single "Businessman" was released in 2011 and then in 2012 this four-track released titled "The Boot Lagoon Ep" followed however as of 2019 there has been no followup release which is a true pity because if you are the type of retro-progger who craves authenticity then you simply CANNOT go wrong with THE BOOT LAGOON.

"Businessman" was released a teaser single that paved the way for the following "The Boot Lagoon Ep." This track sounds perfectly authentic as as evidenced by the cover art insinuates that all classic analog vintage instruments and recording techniques were used. "Businessman" fits in with the classic early 70s Caravan sounds and wouldn't sound terribly out of place on albums such as "In The Land Of The Grey And Pink." It has a slight jazzy swing to it with instantly infectious melodic grooves and includes all the fuzzed out bass and guitar affects as well as the psychedelic zeitgeist of the early 70s timeline and all of this is done flawlessly!

I can honestly state that i have not heard any more authentic sounding classic Canterbury Scene sounds outside of the original 70s golden years than what THE BOOT LAGOON have conjured up. The band perfectly nails every nuance of the genre. This single was not included on the EP that followed but outside of these two scant examples of their channeling sessions, there has been no release since 2012. That is quite the shame because this is the type of band that has proven without doubt that it can imitate the greats in perfect mimicry and i would love to experience the growth of the band as it feels more comfortable taking the liberty to insert more personally creative elements. As a stand alone single this is excellent!

Probably should be 3.5 but so good and i want to encourage the band to crank out some more!

The song is a jazzy good time instrumental piece that shifts enough to remain pleasant for its duration of 6 minutes. Pinning this song is definitely the bass which pretty much plays the same rhythm for the entire song (some interludes call for variety). Over the bass guitar, keys , guitar and flute each take a stab at leading the song. The guitar is crunchy and I believe there is a second guitar with a jazz tone. There are also no vocals, contrary to the line ups claim.

Overall this is a fine song that was released to start a career that never became?