For this, their fifth studio album, Dead Meadow have taken their brand of psychedelic stoner rock and stripped everything down to the barest bones and got right back to nature. Now just a three-piece the band flew out to rural Indiana and began recording in the same studio/farmhouse where they recorded their second album. Two weeks later and with the bulk of the material down, they headed back to Los Angeles and added all the overdubs with the help of producers Rob Campanella (Brian Jonestown Massacre) and Dave Schiffman (Mars Volta). The final stretch of the journey took the reels to New York where engineer Howie Weinberg (Nirvana) added the finishing touches. The result is a wash of chunky, thick-sounding rhythms, full of booming, echoed bass and soft, lethargic vocals.The opening tracks on Old Growth are all about the groove, particularly standout track, ‘Between Me And The Ground’, and it’s a groove you can easily slide into. Big 70’s hard rock sounds mix easily with 60’s psychedelic chiming riffs whilst that understated, lazy vocal of Jason Simon is smooth and eerily relaxing. From here the album swings away into acoustic guitar and whispering drum sections. ‘Down Here’ has a repetitive warping bass that ends up grating, but ‘Seven Seers’ drags it all back to a finer place with beefy, chiming guitars, walloping tamburas and a humming Hammond which all create a dark, slowly shifting ethnic rhythm. ‘Either Way’ is the last track and is a fine example of the dreamlike trance into which the band can effortlessly place you. “Rest your head, let yourself sleep”, whispers Simon like a stoned-out hippie before the soothing guitar fades and you’re left with the sound of footsteps trailing into the distance and an ethereal hum. This is an album for those lazy Sundays when a chance to relax, switch off and join Dead Meadow in getting back to nature and that isolated Indiana farmhouse couldn’t be more welcome. 70%mp3:> Dead Meadow: 'What Needs Must Be'Links Dead Meadow [official site] [myspace]