TRiPS is seductive Pop music which raises flags for spiritual healing in times of chaos, anger and division.
The self-titled debut album project of Barnaby Weir and Andrew Christiansen, long time musical collaborators in Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties and beyond.
The songs here grew organically from a family weekend away. A lot of ideas came tumbling out which were then worked up in the studio.
The producer is Lee Prebble, who has worked with the afore-mentioned bands as well as most of the notable New Zealand musicians, like Dave Dobbyn, LAB, Phoenix Foundation.
The exceptionally turbulent times the world has endured, signalled by Year Zero 2020 viral fear and madness, must bring a rebalancing positive feedback loop. That is a function of Art.
The last time this happened was 1968 when the Summer of Love imploded into chaos and violence.
The Beatle’s doubled down on roots music after they thought they had ushered in the era of peace and love with Sgt Pepper. The Byrds and Beach Boys threw out lifebuoys for people caught in the Sixties undertow, with Notorious Byrd Brothers and Wild Honey/ Smile respectively.
Vietnam War. MLK and RFK assassinated. Democratic Convention riots. Black America burning. James Brown televising concerts free-to-air to successfully quell some of the rage.
Lockdown 2020 were the actual Day the Music Died.
It is back but something is different. It has been hacked at the core.
The album opens with two left hooks and a straight right.
Way Of Flow seems like simple Power Pop of the Beserkeley school, in the naïve fashion of a Jonathan Richman. Don’t stay in the way of my flow. It is a bit more angular in construction like a Brian Eno production.
I’m on Fire is the Bruce Springsteen song given a post Punk, Replacement’s style makeover. The rhythm guitar riff rules, and ironic humour is brought to the fore.
This is the song which immediately captures the attention on the first run through.
Let’s Go Out immediately returns the mythic and dreamy which was taken out of the above song. I could say Beatles ’65 when I really mean Jeff Lynne and ELO.
Wishes is Funk driven Pop. Shuffling authoritative drums and great bass riffs anchors the song. Guitar, keyboards and other sound effects add little touches of colour. I’ll wait for the kisses/ To get some of the wishes.
Beat the Horse floats in an ambient psychedelic dreamscape like Tame Impala. The horse is dead now/ I’m on my knees.
Cobb and Co and they give the drummer some, again.
Afterward is a Folkie reverie, sung probably by Iris Little who is one of the backing vocalists throughout the album. Acoustic guitar and violins on a tune given lots of space to breathe.
Modern Thinking has those falsetto harmonies which are pure Beach Boys coming straight off Wild Honey. A benediction and a blessing.
They end the album with Beforehand. Six and a half minutes of psychedelia as you can turn off your mind, relax and float downstream. Fair match for the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows.
TRiPS are aiming to reach back into the Rock’n’roll past and simultaneously open into the future of popular music. Lots of nostalgia here, and its more rebirth than regrets.
Rev. Orange Peel
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