With nineteen songs and 75 minutes of new music, Nick Saloman is not one to short change his scandalously small but devoted fan-base.
Under the guise of The Bevis Frond, the prolific English guitarist and songwriter once again taps into a rich vein of 60s psych, stoner rock and modern folk enhanced by plenty of Hendrix-esque interventions.
His topical and witty songs include topics such as fast food and global warming to establish that this is no redundant exercise in retromania. There’s even a song inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man to prove that no subject is deemed off limits. The track Leb Off is billed as ”a dark vision of austerity in post War times.
Like Julian Cope, Saloman follows his own personal muse and trusts that enough will tune into his eccentric wavelength.
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At 8 minutes, Mr Fred’s Disco is the longest track. The rest of the tunes are snappy enough to make an enlightened radio playlist but probably won’t. Unfortunately, this is the kind of non-mainstream music largely destined to exist off the radar.
Those already in the know will realise by now that any Bevis Frond release is a cause for celebration. Listeners who have not yet seen the light can start here and work their way back through his lofty back catalogue.
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