Hyde & Beast - Slow Down

Hyde & Beast’s debut ‘Slow Down’ is loose and psychedelic. The product of Dave Hyde and Neil Bassett, the album sounds too big to have been made by just two people.

‘Slow Down’ is a trick bag of hooks, melodies, a surprisingly low end, and excellent production. Single, and lead track ‘Never Come Back’ is exemplary of the band’s talent. The song begins with a driving four chord piano figure that sounds like a late-era The Band outtake. Airy vocals and simple yet elegant slide guitar float above the piano for a full minute before the band lets out its beast in the form of a full brass band. The brass reappears for each chorus on the song, and a few other times throughout the album.

The second track, slow burning ‘If You Could Buy Me Anything’ rests on a simple kick drum pattern and a smooth yet rangy guitar line. A set of multi-tracked ‘Ooos’ and ‘Awwws’ add a wistful quality to the song. Toward the end of the song Hyde & Beast let their eccentricities shine. A low, almost tantric, vocal drone enters the mix and, mere seconds later, the songs falls apart amidst a some reverse-taped ambient sound.

Overall, Hyde & Beast know how to construct an intriguingly psychedelic sound using primarily staccato piano, late sixties guitar tones, a solid drum beat, and a few well placed studio flourishes. Really these flourishes, such as the additional echos, twinges, and tweaks on ‘All Because of You,’ that give ‘Slow Down’ a unique sound.

Yet, at times, Hyde & Beast allow their eccentricities to be overshadowed by their influences. Middle track ‘Last Chance for a Slow Dance’ rests to heavily on a guitar line and tone that sounds lifted straight from any Beatles album after Revolver. The same problem is shared by ‘(And The) Pictures in the Sky,’ the following track. ‘Wolfman’s Blues,’ a strange squawk and hoot of distortion, voice, and rickety piano, sounds more like Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion and is all the better for it.

Hyde & Beast’s psychedelia doesn’t derive from weird electronics, as is often the case these days, but from the conscious manipulation of traditional rock and roll instruments and their own studio know-how. An unusual feat unto itself.