Nashville Trio Simo have long been gaining plaudits for their eclectic and exciting sound that takes its cues from blues, soul and even funk whilst maintaining a loose-limbed psychedelic edge that draws the listener into a multi-coloured world that exists beyond the mundane boundaries of reality. Back with their hotly-anticipated new album, ‘Rise and shine’, the band, who spent much of last year touring the world, not only live up to, but exceed all expectations with a magnificently playful set that will appeal as much to fans of Beck and Kyuss as it does to fans of Clapton and Hendrix.
The album opens with the ragged funk of ‘return’, a track that sounds like Beck covering the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Raw and exciting, it eases the listener in before the wired, Carlos Alomar-esque riff of ‘meditation’ slinks into view over Adam Abrashoff’s back beat, which nails the track squarely to the dance floor. Effortlessly exciting, this is music that, in a perfect world, would belt out of the radio 24/7 (believe me, the world would be a happier, brighter place if it did), and it’ll have you tapping your feet in no time even as JD Simo’s nervy vocal burns itself into your brain. Things take an even bolder, brighter turn with the ecstatic soul-infused rock of ‘Shine’, a track that does what it says on the tin with Simo’s riffs and Elad Shapiro’s groovy bass lines bringing a little bit of sunshine into the room no matter the weather or the time of day. We’re back into Alomar territory with the rock-hard funk of ‘people say’, the track racing by seemingly on Adrenalin alone, so much so that the smooth, creamy riffing of ‘don’t waste time’ comes as something of a relief, Simo’s fluid guitar work flowing silkily over the rhythm section’s taut backing. The first half of the album concludes with the soulful ballad ‘ I want love’, a moment of calm before the instrumental storm of ‘the climb’ which opens the album’s second half. Reminiscent of Robert Cray via Janis Joplin and Jeff Buckley, the track sees Simo adopt a shimmering falsetto before plunging into a distorted tone backed by a suddenly plunging guitar that explodes in the darkness like a suddenly ignited candle.
Opening the album’s second half is the syncopated instrumental ‘The climb’, which sees Simo exploring his fret board with all the glee of a sonic adventurer cut loose in the studio before the whole band deliver a career peak with the gargantuan riffing of blues-rock epic ‘light the candle’, a track that takes the wild experimentation of the Allman Brothers’ legendary ‘at Fillmore East’ as its cue. Effortlessly expanding the track to a lysergic seven minutes in length, the band sound like they had a riot in the studio and the recording captures their raw spontaneity with both depth and power. Similarly lengthy is ‘be with you’, a track that initially captures Simo at his most vulnerable before exploding into the sort of glorious psychedelic epic that the Doors indulged in at their most unhinged. As the track progresses, so we find Simo gibbering “you’re all I think about!” as the riffs edge into a frenzy of lustful desire that blazes and burns with progressive fury. Providing some respite from the white hot riffs of its predecessor, ‘the light’ is a simple porch song, played solo on an acoustic guitar and as naked and vulnerable as music gets. Close your eyes and Simo is there in the room with you, battered guitar in hand as he expresses his innermost fears in a manner that harks back to Kurt Cobain’s intense reading of Lead Belly’s ‘where did you sleep last night’. The album comes to an end with the fourteen-minute ‘I pray’, a shimmering, progressive monster in the vein of ‘Meddle’-era Pink Floyd with hints of Sonic Youth and a schizophrenic, Clutch-esque chorus that appears from nowhere to demolish the listener with its ferocity. A truly glorious piece of music that appeals for respect in tolerance in an era of ever-increasing right-wing attitudes and closed-mindedness, ‘I Pray’ is one of the most powerful social statements set to music of recent years and its open-ended structure only adds to the power and drama of the sentiments it expresses. It’s hard to put into words the thoughts and emotions that ‘I pray’ evokes. It draws on rock, jazz, prog and blues and it sends cold fingers up and down the spine. It’s epic, beautiful, frightening in its elemental power and beautiful in its delicacy. It is a grand, eloquent expression of music as art and it is astonishing.
Seriously, where to start when an album is this good? Perhaps a brief anecdote, so please bear with me. When I was in my teens, Sonic Youth released the album ‘Washing machine’. The final track to that album is ‘the diamond sea’, a sonic exploration for which I was wholly unprepared. It brought out the gooseflesh on my arms and it was often that I would escape to a quiet place so I could lose myself amidst the track’s psychedelic washes of noise and feedback. As you get older, such moments become increasingly rare, but Simo capture that same sense of emotion and energy and the music blazes its way into your subconscious, taking you over body and soul. ‘Rise and Shine’ is a remarkable album, as essential as music gets, and it should be mandatory listening for anyone who believes that contemporary music has lost its spark. I find it hard to imagine a better album this year, perhaps in the next few years, and am aching to return to it once more even as I write these final words. Simo have crafted a masterpiece in ‘rise and shine’, no more, no less, and if their output never amounts to more than this, they’ll have earned their place in rock’s storied history. 10
