Perth-based psych-rock collective reach new foundations with sixth Fronzoli.
OVERVIEW
Deemed as their “favourite creation to date”, sixth album of Fronzoli was starting to shape since they released their fifth Night Gnomes, as a matter of fact. A polished squiggle of psych-rock, prog rock and heavy garage riffs all thrown in a disco-ball vat of glaring glitter, the exuberant batch of bread makers have always kept to their own lane.
To many, the outlier of High Visceral, Pt.1 in 2016, is Crumpets best work with the likes of Found God in a Tomato and Cornflake demonstrating homage to the band markings of hyperactive guitar surges and offbeat lyrics. Whereas many others see 2019’s And Now For The Whatchamacallit as their best as it demonstrates the band at their most havoc-inducing – a gloopy mess of garage riffs designed solely to run rampant on your mother’s lawn.
The record surges into third gear with Nootmare, an irrational psych-rock feverdream of impractical nonsense – and is picture-portrait Porn Crumpets. We’re followed with eccentric unsettler of (I’m a Kadaver) Alakazam and glitzy fuzz of Dilemma Us From Evil; very much an accompaniment to a villain walk as it is a pub brawl soundtrack – “There’s no escaping time, I’m stuck like the rest of us, good god / Panic button ahoy, push that / panic button.”
The band who started out as friends, pride themselves on their gleefully unpolished approach to both songwriting and production. But for folk who are seemingly non-chalant to how the music gets made – music speaks for itself, right? – they pride themselves on their smorgasbord of influences that outrightly present amongst those squiggles. Classic rock behemoths of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath are certainly cranked in but also tightly-wound experimental jazz can be heard in the other lesser-known works from the judgy side-eye of hyperactivity. And yes, those rock influences are certainly on full display on this record with grunge powerhouses of Hot! Heat! Wow! Hot! and Sierra Nevada keeping the lights on.
FRONZOLI may mean ‘something unnecessary added as decoration’ in Italian circles, but the work of Crumpets is far from unnecessary. An integral rising cord to pull in psych-rock, this is psychedelic porn Crumpets. This is your new normal. //
The band are set to go on tour in the UK next year in Feb 2024. The album announcement also arrives alongside the news that Psychedelic Porn Crumpets will be supporting Royal Blood on the Australian leg of their tour later this year. The collective are also set to arrive on the UK shores for a tour in February 2024.
manvmusic.com 
Leave a comment