Meet the West Wickhams, Jon Othello and Elle Flores, creators of a mesmerizing blend known as Psychedelic Garage Noir Deux. Hailing from the enchanting Tresco on the Isles of Scilly, a haven of lost souls and tales, their music resonates with the mystique of subtropical flora and the echoes of shipwrecked stories. On their latest album, “Vivre Sa Vie”, keep reading for my thoughts on how well they execute their sound.
The opener, “I Am Sparkling Cyanide”, is a delightful, noir-sounding post-rock-themed song that immediately sets the tone for the album. With its slightly downturned guitars and barebones (for the most part) drumming that leaves a lot of space in the mix to create emotive tension, this track gets the foundations right. Segueing into the next track, “The Maddening Crowd”, we have a much more tense, psychedelic affair– mostly with themes of melodic and harmonic tension that permeate one’s ears as the song unfolds. The production is a notch more uptempo than the opener, with some special elements being the ringing lead guitars that create the forefront voice on this track.
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Continuing on the themes laid down so far on “Vivre Sa Vie”, “Carla Suspiria” brings its own special sauce– wafty reverbs and chorused guitars laid atop what is a very grunge-sounding rest of the ensemble. The vocal layers are also of mention here, with the consistently strummed lead line in the left channel remaining persistent throughout the song, as it evolves from one melody into another.
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At this point, I think it’s time we talk about the production on “Vivre Sa Vie”. It’s an interesting affair, with a lot of elements deemed conventionally incompatible with each other, but it still somehow manages to come together quite amazingly, with a lot of cohesion and manages to propel the message of the album forward quite efficiently. The mix and master contribute, too, with a lot of creative decision-making in the mix, and some great dynamics control on the master, noticeable particularly on the opener, “I Am Sparkling Cyanide”. All this contributes to quite a sonically sound album.
Some other special mentions from this album include “The Conformist” for its production, and as we close with “Damned Defiant!”, we’re left intrigued as to what more the West Wickhams have for us in the future. Check out “Vivre Sa Vie” here!
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