Swimming Faith (2020)
I don't know that Night Slaves is really the best band name I have ever heard, but we'll put that to the side for right now. This album was sent to me by the folks at Swimming Faith records. When I opened up the package I was taken in by its colorful artwork, though less so by the description of the music that promised "a forgotten fever dream album dedicated to proto-punk/psych-garage."
There are a handful of descriptors in music that almost immediately signal to me that it's not going to be something that I like. "Synth-punk" is the main one, but a close second is juxtaposing the word "psych" with just about any other genre. And in that way, Night Slaves do not disappoint. They have crafted a record that is absolutely not geared for me.
Yes, there are definitely traces of psych in this one rolled up into somewhat weaker garage sort of sounds that harkens back to the 60s to an extent. But it's not done in a way that conveys much in the way of emotion or enthusiasm to me. Most of the songs just kind of sit there. You know you're in bad shape when the most memorable song on the album, "Absolute," is only memorable because it rips off the keyboards from ? and the Mysterians' "99 Tears." Looking at this record in a vacuum, I suppose it's a perfectly serviceable psych-garage fever dream. The problem for me is that's not the sort of dream I'm looking for in an album.
Night Slaves - Three and a Half
https://nightslaves.bandcamp.com/album/three-and-a-half
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