Barrett Elmore - Woodlands (2012)

Psychedelic experimental band from Stockholm, Sweden founded in 2008. They started out as a trio, consisting of Max Månk (bass, organ), Claes Mikael (drums) and Walther William (guitar, organ). First the band was in raw instrumental blues tuned music, but soon they moved over to a psychedelic folk inspired territory. Then singer Mikaela joined and finally they found the sound and style reflected in their music today.

The first result is their debut album 'Woodlands', released on TRAIL Records in 2012. Here they offer eleven songs which are reflecting their love for 60s psychedelia, with a preference on Pink Floyd especially, as the band name states. Also reminiscent of the endless Swedish woods the tunes are highly melodic, thus featuring a typical Nordic melancholy.

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.