Teeth of the Sea – Hypnoticon EP

On New Years Eve 2009, Teeth of the Sea performed the entire soundtrack to Flash Gordon, in full costume, lit up by a projected version of the film. What a way to see the new year in ”“ glazed and fucked, buried under a dirty great avalanche of floor toms and camp fuzzed-up May histrionics. It must have been a hell of a sight”¦ So now, 13 months after their diseased, choppily psychedelic debut album, Orphaned by the Ocean (which was, for the record, criminally ignored) they’ve returned with a vinyl EP that follows the spaceward trajectory set in motion by the vultan suits, and that has them sounding tighter, vaster ”“ Hypnoticon is kosmiche space rock, in all senses of the word. I don’t think it’s just me that felt the diseased thing about their debut. Amidst all that stately poise and harsh static was the reek of the unhinged - it felt like it might split apart at any moment, exposing rancid innards”¦They talked of how this was part of the very fabric of the band, this urge towards self-destruction ”“ pushing things to a (il)logical extreme to see what might lie beyond. Tracks arose from protracted jams, the final objects more like detritus or offcuts. In this context, Hypnoticon feels more linear and complete ”“ studied even; and sonically, the band sound absolutely in control.The space rock aspect of their sound was fundamental to their debut, but it seemed to be mangled, sucked back in on itself. Here it's all flung outwards, riding at times (especially on 'Hypnoticon Viva') on near Boredoms-like rhythmic patterns. They reprise the Flash Gordon theme too, with a gargantuan version of 'In The Space Capsule (Love Theme)', the tom-heavy patterns matched by a great swirls of multi-tracked guitars and banks of keyboards. It's on 'The Island Is' though, that the faint whiff of disease returns, and it's probably no surprise that it's here that the sound at their most vital and their most profound. The track is built around a noir-ish screed of bass pulse and treated guitars, but it's when that trumpet call arrives that you feel like you might bust through the top of your head. Jon Hassell once remarked that the trumpet was a lonely instrument ”“ here it sounds vast, distant and ominous, and until the drums return at the track's climax, for a time this reminded me of 'In A Silent Way' eating its own face.There's a new album due around June (if things haven't split asunder). Things are building around this lot, and if this is anything to go by, the new record going to be quite some event. Go, Flash.

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