This 4 track vinyl single, given away for free as an exclusive item for members of UK label Fruits de Mer own FdM club, documents a great event for this small UK label: Their very own festival, which took place at The Borderline venue in central London in the summer of 2013.
Of course the whole experience hasn’t been documented on a single vinyl single, nor all the bands. But four of the five artists that performed this day are represented with a track each, headliners The Pretty Things not included as they are preparing their own live album from what I understand.
Jack Ellister’s Old South opens the A side here, a pleasant vocals and acoustic guitar affair of the kind that has singer/songwriter all over it. A nice melancholic piece, but perhaps not the most psychedelic item as such. Spain’s Stay follow with I Don’t See Myself, four minutes of spirited, organ driven psychedelic rock with a firm footing in the late 60’s to my ears at least, with guitar reverbs and resonance details supplementing the organ to create a psychedelic garage rock vibe.
Sendelica from Wales kickstart the B side of this single in a splendid manner with Set the Controls for the Heart of the Buddha. A homage to a certain classic track by a certain classic band, with ongoing theremin drone and a sax solo with what I’ll have to describe as a mystical, eastern inspired timbre as the dominant motifs, with elegantly plucked guitar details whenever a certain recurring motif isn’t given a psych-dripping guitar solo representation. Best of the lot on this single, and a piece of music that documents Sendelica’s superior qualities as a live band. Coming all the way from the US, The Luck of Eden Hall brought a different sound to this festival with their compelling, almost mainstream oriented highly compelling variety of psychedelic rock. On this single their spirited performance of Lucifer Sam was chosen though, a brooding almost menacing affair alternating between the compact dampened guitar and vocal driven sequences on one hand and the intense Mellotron and effects lazed instrumental sequences on the other. A spirited, fiery piece of psychedelic space rock.
All in all a nice memento for those of us who attended Fruits de Mer one day festival at The Borderline, and a fair representation of the events that took place that indicates quite nicely what those who couldn’t make it missed out on. As well as a high quality freebie for the FdM club members of course, a production that is representative of the quality we have come to expect from any single or album released by Fruits de Mer.
My rating: 80/100
