THE REAL HIGH

I had forgotten that SATURNIA were a Raga Rock band but it makes sense with the lyrics and ethnic instruments he uses. The "he" is Luis Simoes from Portugal, a talented multi-instrumentalist who pretty much does it all himself. I have the trio of albums beginning with "Muzak" his fourth studio album from 2007, then "Alpha Omega Alpha" from 2012 and this one "The Real High" from 2016. "Muzak" is by far his best in my opinion but I have a real appreciation for "Alpha Omega Alpha" but felt it was really inconsistent and a double cd at that. "The Real High" is better with some real highs alright but it's also inconsistent.

And while Luis usually does it all he has a guest adding synths on a couple of tracks along with female spoken words and vocals on the closing section of that final track. In the "big hello" section he mentions Nik Turner, Daevid Allen(RIP) and Dave Schmidt. We get eight tracks and it's under 59 minutes. Two instrumentals including the opener "Glass Glyph, Optics" which is a top four. Spacey and drifting music that does become more energetic after 4 minutes. The other instrumental is "Tentacles" another top four. Add "Mandrake Scream" and that sampled mellotron, such an uplifting track plus "Most Beautiful" with that gorgeous sampled mellotron again, and it's so uplifting, and we get the bonus of electric piano which was a surprise.

The closer "Shells" is really good at over 9 minutes bringing to mind "Obscured By Clouds" by FLOYD. The sitar and ethnic sounds are strongest on the title track and I'm not big on it. Some tasteful guitar here. It's okay. "Heavenly Bodies" threw me for a loop with the lyrics. Keep your sex life to yourself please. Spiritual music? I will stick with "Muzak" which I have in my "best of" Psychedelic section because it is simply an incredible release. This hints at it for sure and maybe I'm being too hard on this record but 3.5 stars is all I got.

Those are Apple snail shells on the cover. No idea why? This is the least sounding Raga of the three I own.