After their 2015 excursion into sax and flute experimentalism in the form of ‘Exploding Universe’, Brainiac 5 have reverted to their psych / punk guitar roots for ‘Journey to X’. Well, sort of. ‘Exploding Universe’ didn’t exactly stray into a different universe from their psych-tined pub-rock template, for starters. But there’s a twist with this one, in that the album is inspired by and eclectic array of literary texts and figures. It would be unjust to criticise a band for their shameless intellectualism in an age where everything has been emptied out and reduced to mental chewing gum, and so for this alone, a degree of respect is due. What’s more, while it could so easily be a pretentious bag of bollocks, it’s not: ‘Journey to X’ is smart without being smug.
It’s not a band album, either. There are some noodlesome meanderings and a couple of monsters that stretch well past the 10-minute mark. The first of these, ‘The Human Scapegoat’ follows a short, rather proggy, intro track bearing the (I’m assuming) knowingly pompous title ‘Endless River Part I’, and comes on like Neil Young on a downer before going all heavy metal for a bit. Lyrically, it’s a cryptic, mystical work, with translations ancient Mesopotamian poems featured in Sir James George Frazer’s seminal tome on occultism, ‘The Golden Bough’. Mighty themes, and grand in execution.
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Literary sources are a recurrent inspiration: ‘Laura Riding’ is an ode to the muse of poet Robert Graves, and while I’m not in a position to question its factual accuracy, suspect some of it’s pure fancy. Still, it’s good fun, as is ‘At Noon’, the lyrics of which are based on a poem by celebrated Lincolnshire poet Elizabeth Jennings.
Guest vocalist Jessie Pie brings a sleek, sultry, jazzy style to ‘The World Inside,’ which marks a well-placed shift in tone and style. ‘Some Things’ is perhaps the most straight ahead punky pub rocker on the album, and it provides some guitar-driven relief before the sprawling behemoth of a finale. Closing with an extended blues-rock boogie – ‘Kill It’ is a call to end inappropriate obsessions’ – seems fitting for The Brainiac 5: it finds them doing what they do best, but exploring wider – and longer – channel of articulation.
The Brainiac 5 Online
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