Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders are back with the bands latest stoned epic Liquid Donnen, they make music for anyone living in the Narnian realm of the Grateful Dead jam band scene, which means they are not my bag at all. This time around the Heavy Lidders are Drew Gardner, Jesse Shepherd, Scott Verrastro, Tacuma Bradley And Christina Carter. The album was mixed and produced by Jeffrey Alexander and mastered by John McBain. To have any chance of getting this album being rather stoned is recommended.
The album opens with the single From Loch Raven To Fells Point a rather acid drenched road trip, wherein they may well be flying high over the roads, trees are melting into each other, while the very stoned sounding exploratory guitars feel there way up the Marshmallow Coast, Indian influences and all the psychedelics they could find.
Calliope Wailer meanders slowly into life almost like they are tuning up or warming up in the studio at practise, this is slow free jazz extemporisation seemingly going nowhere extremely slowly, at best background music at a very smoky dinner party. Tightroping adds some very ephemeral female vocals , sounding like a Siren trying to draw lovers into her lair, barely their guitars meander and cymbals build in slow crescendos.
Critical masses raises them slightly from the torpor, while they find voice trying to find a way through the malaise of drug drenched guitar noodling feeling its way to the next bong hit taking them to the sky.
The album closes with Reservoir Drop/The Summer Song a 12 minute freak out, they have finally had a hit of caffeine or speed and have woken up, ready to play long mantra like guitar solo's weaving around each other and helping the freaks to reach that peak once more, no matter how fuzzy they are, a longwinded guitar freak out will help them shake out the ghosts, stretching creating shapes and posies on the oil wheel decorated walls, they slow things back down in time for more Siren like vocal warbles as they descend towards that unknown state for them of being drug free and sober in the Summer staring at the tress grass and stones wishing they could really play Sommarlaten at a Kraftskiva but end up meandering all night long instead.
Find out more at https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-donnon https://bsky.app/profile/lidders.bsky.social https://jerkfree.wixsite.com/website https://jeffreyalexander.bandcamp.com/album/liquid-donnon https://linktr.ee/jerkfree
