US composer and instrumentalist Anton BARBEAU is something of a cult artist in the power pop environment if I have grasped his history correctly, sporting two decades of solo releases earning him lots of critical acclaim but not quite as much commercial impact. Barbeau have now hooked up with vinyl enthusiast label Fruits de Mer Records, and his first release through them is a 7” single that will be available in October 2012.
Fans of Barbeau will most likely be familiar with the A-side track Psychedelic Mynde of Moses from his 2010 album of the same name, a compact and powerful pop tunes sporting a high intensity, compact arrangement with a few careful psychedelic touches thrown in for good measure, the energetic drum patterns beneath Barbeau’s distinct psych dripping dominant vocals the key features of this high impact piece.
But it’s when we hit the cover tunes that this single really starts making an impact. Robyn Hitchcock’s Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl a highly strung, nervous affair that seems to hover on the edge of a mad, freakout explosion with the intense vocals and a siren-like recurring instrumental motif backing the ebb and flow intensity of this distinctly vocals dominated effort to very good effect.
A more distinct and dominant siren-like detail is a recurring feature when Barbeau cover’s Julian Cope’s Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed too. This piece a harder edged excursion that comes across as a song that could have been written by The Beatles and then performed by The Who, flavoured with psych dripping lead vocals, a brooding dark toned guitar texture placed beneath and a fair amount of futuristic sounding space rock effects thrown in for good measure.
If you like your psychedelic rock to be of a 60’s orientation, enjoy distinct vocals that in themselves adds a psychedelic sheen to the proceedings and are fond of compact, high intensity compositions with something of a highly strung, nervous atmosphere to them then Barbeau’s first single on Fruits de Mer Records is one you might want to grab. It’s a limited edition vinyl production however, and as this is a fairly well established label with a good-sized crowd of regular customers you shouldn’t wait too long if you really desire to own it: It’s not uncommon for them to sell out on pre-orders alone.
My rating: 93/100
