ninehertz

I seem to have been on something of an accidental Subsound Records binge of late – not intentionally focussing on their back catalogue but organically finding my way there time and again. It is testament to their ear in the psychedelic and wider worlds and if anything, they’re becoming increasingly unmissable. The Citadel’s Foundation Cycle is a great case in point – self released in November last year but made physical through Subsound affording a wider audience, myself included.

It's slightly outside my usual listening comfort zones, even taking into account long standing love for modern takes on proto-doom and recent finds of pastoral drone. The Citadel’s remit of psychedelic folk and blues sounds cool but is lighter touch than what we’d normally cover on ninehertz.

Then you hear the first track, City Dreams and be damned if you’re not drawn in to its 60s reverential acid-soaked free love whimsical nature. It so perfectly captures a time long ago you feel transported with it – I had to check I wasn’t listening to a long-lost record of those times (as can be found on labels like RidingEasy or Rise Above), so authentic is its sound. The Doors are an obvious reference, but then you could go through Jefferson Airplane and any number of the classics from the era and find a connection.

It is obviously made with love and is joyful to listen to. The psychedelic time travel of course never goes away, but admittedly never quite matches that opening offering. The album heads more into blues folk from there. It works well too – Searchin’ for Bayou being the highlight in amongst, a lithe sassiness and beauty to it, eclectic and wild towards its end. There’s intrigue to be found in the title and lyrics of the murderous My Inspiration Was Found Dead on the Bathroom Floor, and oddly a Kentucky based bluesiness replete with country twang on Tuscaloosa.

I miss the psych drenched trip of the first track, which seems to lessen every track out after, the life cycle of a come down in play. And despite that slight deflated feeling, there’s a lot still to enjoy in here, an album that toys with blues and folk from different influence points, and I’m still smiling happily by the album end.