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BEATS OF LOVE

14. At the River's Edge by Celestial

BOOMKAT'S BLURB, whilst dense and prolific, can quite often be a little misleading. This is a case in point. I mean, what the fuck is a 'smudged take on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross?' I'm not aware of any positive connotations with the word smudge. 

Similarly, the LP doesn't, to my ears, sound like the organic harmonious reverie of Vincent Gallo or the Durruti Column. The synths are too prominent and jarring a feature and detract from what could otherwise be construed to be an organic listening experience. I'm instead reminded of the KLF's Chill Out masterpiece, which first introduced the paradoxical phrase ambient house into our consciousness.

Celestial appears to share a similar urge to disrupt their own Arcadian tranquility. This disruption adds psychedelic layers of subversive sound that also force us to engage with something paradoxical. The KLF created in 2 days, armed with field recordings, samples, and punk in joking, a record, that has intrigued us for over 3 decades. Celestial haven't quite created that.   

And their sleeve is fucking horrible. Like a saccharine, mythical Eden, painted by someone OD'ing on Librium. The only other artwork that is as bad as the album is good is Animal Collective's Sung Tongs. However, this LP isn't that great, and on some tracks the psychedelia can also become a touch too saccharine. But here, they hit the spot, and some. The Boomkat blurb gets it right too as the twangy guitar is just as mournful as Ry Cooder's Paris, Texas score. A score that was always an after party winner, and probably still is.

There's also enough ambience to let the jarring stab lines work their magic, too. It could go on forever, and I'm guessing Blind Willie Johnson would approve. Will I still be intrigued by it in 30 years' time? Who fucking cares.         

https://boomkat.com/products/i-had-too-much-to-dream-last-night-04a90ade-c3af-47e8-9eb2-af7f57b723f8