Swervedriver
Mezcal Head
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Swervedriver
Mezcal Head
A&M, 1993
RiYL: Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Doves, Smashing Pumpkins |
Informed as much by My Bloody Valentine as it is The Stooges, Mezcal Head is an 11-track, 61-minute juggernaut, mind-altering and deeply satisfying from start to finish. Produced in typical wall-of-sound fashion by Alan Moulder, the album wrings maximum effectiveness out of a host of inventive alternate guitar tunings and effects and Adam Franklin's somewhat buried vocals.
Mezcal Head blasts off with "For Seeking Heat," a propulsive rocker reminiscent to the leadoff track on Swervedriver's 1991 debut, Raise. The band obliterates the alt-rock competition with truly original cuts like "Blowin' Cool" and the nearly seven-minute melodic tour-de-force "Last Train To Satansville."
Here, impenetrable stratas of guitar tone lower a major boom rivaled only by Smashing Pumpkins' 1993 epic Siamese Dream (Swervedriver got its first major American exposure during a 1993 supporting gig with the Pumpkins).
Amazingly, the band never gets carried away with sonic trickery. Underneath, the raw songs are just as interesting as the effects swirling overhead. "Duel" builds on a slippery bass line that dropkicks the song into a head-nodding, major-key chorus. The Pumpkins-esque "You Find It Everywhere" sits on two chords and afterthought vocals, letting the bass and drums do most of the legwork.
But elsewhere, Franklin's smooth vocals prove much more integral to the music, especially on the story song "Harry & Maggie." Backed by a dark, astounding groove, Franklin relates the tale of a stone mason who carves his girlfriend's name into the gargoyles at the Houses Of Parliament. On the slow, steady "Girl On A Motorbike," Franklin pursues said girl through the streets of Berlin, swerving to avoid oncoming traffic. A lyrical genius? No. But give Franklin credit for trying to separate his band from the pack of mumbling shoegazers that reigned supreme circa '93.
Swervedriver's sense of grandeur flares up on two lengthy songs, the eight-minute, effect-drenched "Duress" and the 11-minute closer "Never Lose That Feeling/Never Learn." "Duress" was often stretched to more than 10 minutes in live performance, as the band knows just when to fill the open spaces with fucked-up sounds of their choosing.
"Never Lose That Feeling" is the album's finest moment, drilling a brilliant, detuned riff into the listener's head, backing off and then bringing it right back again.
Mezcal Head has yet to be equaled by any psych-rock band, much less Swervedriver themselves (the band has been dropped by no less than three major labels). Until My Bloody Valentine decides to rejoin the living, Swervedriver's trippy adventures aren't likely to be bettered.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"