There are a number of issues I suffer from that in the modern idiom are described as “first world problems”: I’ve too many gig t-shirts to store easily; all the CDs I have are outgrowing their storage; and there are so many good bands that I’ve not heard of before. Garden of Worm fall into that final category, but thanks to the always excellent Svart Records (dear editor, can we have a “best label” list at the end of the year?), and new release ‘Idle Stones’, that particular problem has been remedied.
From what I’ve read of this Finnish band, their past was rather doom laden, and that sound can be heard in the downbeat style of opener ‘Fleeting are the Days of Man’, a title that itself is redolent of despair. However, as that track runs without break into ‘Summer’s Isle’, the band move into a far more psychedelic, yet still dark direction, the stark drumming and stripped back sound redolent of early occult rockers like Black Widow, the harmonised vocals giving way to extended fuzzed out guitar breaks that launch the album into a journey of foreboding across inner space, the final few minutes sounding like The Doors’ own Robby Krieger at his most blissed out. This acid trip continues with the ethereal reverberations of ‘Desertshore’, the meandering instrumental intro contrasting with the almost urgent twin vocals that fire in halfway through the track.
‘Idle Stones’ is only made up of four tracks, but that doesn’t mean it is in anyway lacking content, closing as it does with the epic near twenty minute happening that is ”The Sleeper including Being Is More Than Life’. Opening with the funereal toll of a lone church bell, the scene is set for a full on mushroom inspired freakout that would happily have seen the band share a bill in 1969 with The Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane as bright eyed flower children tripped away to the wall of sound that manages to be simultaneously minimalistic yet textured and full, no mean feat for a band that are just a three piece of guitar, bass and drums, especially as the production eschews flashy multiple overdubs and synthetic layering. For some, twenty minutes for a single track may sound self indulgent, but this is no live bass solo stretched out ego trip, but rather a piece that draws the listener in and carries them along, immersed in a stream of consciousness music where time has little meaning. Considering how mellow the track made me feel where the only chemical enhancement to my psyche was a mug of tea, I can only imagine the positive effect it might have on those with more stoner tendencies than I.
Once again, Svart Records have done the world a favour by introducing Garden of Worm to a wider audience where they can be properly appreciated. Of course now I’ve heard this latest release, I’m going to have to experience more of those first world problems like where to find the back catalogue and how to catch them live; oh, the hardship!
(8/10 Spenny)
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