Gone Down Meadowland is the debut album by East-coast Psychedelicists Floral Image, who come from the sun dappled streets of Norwich. Floral image are Fergus Nolan, Jack Warner, Matt Kennedy, Mitch Forsyth, & Phil Whitton who recorded 30 songs all over Norfolk last summer, they have chosen the ten songs that sounded best to them. The album was mixed by Hugh Fothergill and mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal mastering.
The album fades into Meadowland with chiming keyboards, reverb heavy guitars and an early 70's bucolic psyche sound. The Dream is laid back shimmery summer psyche pop for drifting off into a dreamworld.
The single Burning 305 takes a galloping beat, high vocals, a bit of Belle & Sebastian meets Van Der Graf Generator culture clash sound, that's intoxicating and intriguing.
Call Up The Doctor they are out of drugs and need to get a new script, will they claim to have fallen off a Ferris Wheel or did they contract an unspecified illness, they need you to write them the script, the chilled out guitars dazzle and shine, urging the doc to do the decent thing, before they threaten to sound even more like Lambchop.
The Score happens right after they saw the Doctor and feels like the pills have started to hit, bright colours explode around them, like they are staring at the trees in Eye, while Byrds fly by.
Boogietown isn't a jazz funk masterpiece, this is more fusion Jazz folk, that would work on a Slimcea ad, but with keyboards that are very mellow Jimmie Smith, so lets all get down in Boogietown where we all move ethereally, while whacked on Valium and Prozac, ready for the funky bass breakdown.
Tiergarten hints at the Kraut-rock influence, on this riffing monster, motorik beats, cruising down the central avenue in Tiergarten, are those horses' hooves galloping along to this freak out.
Howling Dog Song is a tsunami of guitars with a slight Indian twang to them, they rage against the racists and other morons, while howling with rage all day and night, how to make the idiots behave, re-arrange their minds with Psyche guitar and sitar explosions. Beat their brains out with the mad super speedy riff-out.
Twist of A Nerve feels more blissed out, deceptively so, it may feel laid back but make no mistake, that nerve will be properly twisted in these guitar swirls.
Sun For Hire yes for a small price they will get you one sunny day, they aren't making anyone rent a copy of the current bun, in places this has an early High Llamas meets Beach Boys feel.
The album closes with the radio friendly version of Howling Dog Song, no less bile or brilliant guitars, but with three minutes less of the guitar freakout.
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