WOODLANDS

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.