"Echo is the latest installment of a project that launched last year with Helium, filled with gorgeous all-acoustic (including double bass, piano, harmonium, auto-harp and violin) psychedelic folk psych prog. This is no placid, meandering hippy folk, however. The drums still hit hard, the bass hits floor-shaking tones, and the guitars have aggressive moments as well as lovely picking. This rocks along the lines of British folky psych prog like Fairfield Parlour, Trees and early Jethro Tull. Based in Detroit, the group is lead by Curvey, who fronted Chicago’s The Luck of Eden Hall for 30 years. In the context of that large, impressive body of work, Custard Flux sees Curvey at the top of his game. His vocal melodies on “America” evokes one of my all-time favorites, The Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow. “Pink Indians” recalls a mix of Yes circa their 1969 debut and Canterbury prog (Soft Machine, Caravan). “Gold” is how I imagine Peter Gabriel might have sounded had he released a psych prog epic shortly after leaving Genesis. Despite the presence of three songs extending past six minutes, the album feels concise at 41 and a half minutes, leaving me breathlessly fluffed and chuffed, ready for more. Fortunately there is more, with the aforementioned Helium, and a bonus disc originally included with the limited edition box set, available digitally on Bandcamp. And if that’s not enough, there’s also The Luck of Eden Hall’s catalog" Continued...
Curvey is back with a second instalment of Custard Flux goodness. Mick Dillingham catches up with the great man to find out all about it and he gives us a track by track breakdown of Echo.
Another glorious Custard Flux album is upon us and like everything Eden Hall’s Gregory Curvey unleashes it’s a psychedelic treasure chest of wonderful songs, masterfully played and beautifully produced. Let us sit down with the great man and find out all about Echo. So straight off, why Echo?
"I initially intended to name the album after one of the elements, like Helium, and already had permission to use an entirely different painting by Gregory Chamberlin for the cover, but that Echo knob on the cover of the Helium Box Set wouldn’t let me be. The box did have enough room for another CD, so I went with the idea of making Echo an annex to the Helium Box Set."
This time you brought some other players on board for the sessions.
"Having Tim Prettyman play double bass on the album definitely added a new dimension to the sound. The acoustic bass I played on the Helium tracks sounded pretty close to an electric bass, even though I didn’t use an amplifier.
America happened to be the first track we recorded .....Continued...
"Custard flux sounds like an extreme form f dairy intolerance, but is in fact the acoustic-based side-project of The Luck of Eden Hall's Gregory Curvey. There's a sun-kissed, lo-fi vibe to this album, but while the instruments are (mostly) unplugged, it still produces plenty of electricity. For example, the rootsy, psychedelic reel of opening track Supernatural manages to be forceful and laid-back at the same time, the sprawling violin of Waly Prettyman adding a cosmic dimension to the sound. There's a sense throughout that this is what the original West coast psych bands might have sounded like if they'd struck out in a more progressive direction rather than getting mired in country rock and AOR.
On saying that, there's an Anglophile hint on some tracks: Cirque d'Enfant switches between classic rock and Beatles-esque melancholy, and while America teases out the difference between dream and reality in the US, and even features a jaw harp, the vocal melody is pure Pretty Things. Gold feels a little darker, building to the repeated refrain of 'I thought you'd understand.' But overall, Echo is a charmingly light-footed album, following last year's surprise delight, Helium."
A brilliant video by artist Shane Swank. This song appears on the album Echo.
A wonderful music video created by artist Shane Swank. This song appears on the album Helium.
Another fabulous music video by artist Shane Swank. This song appears on the Helium Box Set Bonus CD.
For an occasional email and first dibs on goodies.
Many thanks to Gregory Chamberlin for the use of his brilliant paintings.
Visit more of his work at gregorychamberlin
(dot)com
March on in luxury
You’re on the Hit Parade
Jet streams and radio waves
You’re on the Hit Parade
I feel better
Conquer and celebrate
You’re on the Hit Parade
Grand Marshall serenade
You’re on the Hit Parade
I feel better
We should give, more than take
It’s an honest mistake
Float by on accolades
You’re on the Hit Parade
This is a perfect day
You’re on the Hit Parade
We’ve stormed the castle
To slide down the banister
Coins rain from our pockets
As we swing from the chandeliers
We pushed together
The egg King fell off his wall
His prayers are answered
Our hands are stained with yolk
The kingdom is falling
The love Queen feels anger
She screams to kill us all
Join us your Highness
We’ll sleep forevermore
The kingdom is falling
Lying still
Underneath a quilt of stars
Upon a great stone
That keeps me warm
In the dark
Swarms of bats fly over me
And pass by so close
I hear their song
In this empyrean house
Only men are off their balance
Sitting here
High atop a mountain ridge
The edge of a bowl
I feel so small
Gazing down
Across a million flowers
I can see a sleuth of bear
Eating mushrooms
In this empyrean house
Only men are off their balance
Sleep takes her
I’m waiting
We glide through
Various worlds
Our vessel
Sails truly
Until her alarm calls
Shiva
Dance in me
India
Kerala
Smoking
Sandalwood
Floating there
In the air
Anger and sadness
Feed the tiger inside
Buddha
Plasticine
Mounted there
Smiling
Driving
Round and round
Here and now
Touch the ground
Anger and sadness
Feed the tiger inside
I am so bored to tears
The hours pass endlessly
Keeping one eye on the second hand
She wears a tattered ghost
Of something once beautiful
Her twilight eyes are so heavy now
Sleepy hollow
Northern wind blows
Watching shadows
Recede from the sun
Down to zero
Weeping willows
Now my heroes
Are all dead and gone
Oh no
Penny in the Symphonion
A curtsey, then off we go
Whirling around in another dream
My head nods for a hundred years
In a long, slow agreement
As darkness yawns and we go to sleep
We met on a plain
Oscillating
Together we'd swing
Constant velocity
Our horology
Together in sync
Passing through the days
We've grown out of phase
Back and forth we run
Like coupled pendulums
We live on a plain
And meet twice a day
As we decay
An opposing motion
We're in unison
In wrong directions
Passing through the days
We've grown out of phase
Back and forth we run
Like coupled pendulums
Golden opportunities
Can be surreal
Standing in the rain
In an English field
The girl with the umbrella smiles
Watching you melt
Golden opportunities
Patiently
All day long
I listen to my favorite song
Waiting for
The sunny intervals to come
Golden opportunities
Can be surreal
Watching Soft Machine
In an English field
Navigating through the crowd
Standing in mud
Golden opportunities
Patiently
Golden opportunities
Never seem real
She never has the time
For photographs of the sky
Flipping through magazines
Sampling chocolate things
Called her on Saturday
Wouldn’t come out to play
She never has the time
She never has the time
For riding a motorbike
Painting some canvas red
Tripping inside her head
Texted her on the phone
Wanted to walk her home
She never has the time
I tied my helium balloons to her
Couldn’t get off the ground
She never has the time
To listen to Bowie songs
Practicing bass guitar
Strolling through the bazaar
Tried her again today
Told me to go away
She never has the time
I tied my helium balloons to her
Couldn’t get off the ground
Afloat and fighting
In emerald seas
Bobbing under
I breathe in deeper
Sirens singing
Reach for me
Hopeless warnings
About the waves of history
She said the harder they come
She said the harder they fall
Hope and pray for
Delivery
From this supernatural
Endless battery
She said the harder they come
She said the harder they fall
Out in left field
With my face towards the Sun
If I can catch you
I might make the team
Everyone is
A spectator today
When we’re finished
We throw the balls away
Freedom and democracy
A place to raise a family
America
Be just what you want to be
Employed and living lavishly
America
A capitalist fantasy
Insatiable reality
America
Hand picking apples
On a sunny day
Spotted anomalies
Get thrown away
No one would want
Such an ugly thing
These will be sliced
For a nice pie filling
Freedom and democracy
A place to raise a family
America
Be just what you want to be
Employed and living lavishly
America
A capitalist fantasy
Insatiable reality
America
Freedom and democracy
And fear and hate and bigotry
After the baby comes
To wash away the clown assembled here
Another troubadour has overgrown his face
To hide the fear
Has it been twenty years
Or just another minute come and gone
Pack up this circus and go home
I Can’t wait to see what you become
After the baby comes
And hurls you through the clouds
Another troubadour is wondering aloud
Could be these twenty years
Already've come and gone
Fragilely we arrive
And wander into this life
She’s alright
After the baby comes
You’re naked in the Sun
After the baby comes
You have nowhere to run
No need to conquer this alone
You know you’re always welcome home
I dreamed that you would be the one
Can’t wait to see what you become
A well established life
Two children and a wife
She lost her share of sleep
She had a soul to keep
The time arrived
Like a rock
Crashing through a window pane
There may be
Consequences
Nothing would get in the way
A life of wonderment
A life of dreaming for her chance
She had vision
She had a plan
She was an extraordinary man
A secret wardrobe kept
Worn all those times she wept
She had a soul to keep
Hold my hand my dear
They’ve made space for us
On the bus
I saw her disappear
Through an open door
On the floor
Herds of people
Plodding forward
Without reason
Strangers faces
Frowning smiling
Pink Indians
She’s not there
She’s not there
Then she reappeared
Near the lollipop
Candy shop
Hold my hand my dear
You’ve scared me to death
Catch my breath
She said, “I fear
The day will come
When me and myself walk away.
Then I will be
All by it’s self.”
And now she’s off and gone for days
I’m hoping for a change in weather
November fifth
The storm blew in
When I awoke she was nowhere
A million laughs
Have come to this
She’s wandered off and gone for days
I’m hoping for a change in weather
I'm hoping we can be together
Heading to the mountains
And living off the land
We’re mining for gold and silver
I thought you’d understand
Sixteen hundred thousand miles
We travel every hour
And no one seems to
Hardly even notice
Each and every atom
Was produced inside a Star
Evolving into
All that’s you and me dear
Place your lovely candles in a row
Pretty fingers light them one by one
You make a secret wish and gently smile
And take another trip around the Sun
An atom’s nucleus resides
In an atomic cloud
That makes us ninety nine percent
Emptiness
Sixteen hundred thousand miles
We’re traveling per hour
As we sit here in
Absolute stillness
Place your lovely candles in a row
Pretty fingers light them one by one
You make a secret wish and gently smile
And take another trip around the Sun
Take another trip around the Sun
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