The Black Angels - Haunting At 1300 McKinley

Anyone who purchased one of the original gatefold CDs (remember them?) of ‘Passover’ by The Black Angels may recall, on glancing at the inner sleeve, being invited to “Drone On”. And after less than a minute of opener ‘Young Men Dead’, you realised they weren’t joking. This was a full on, psychedelic aural assault, perfect for scorching down a highway or getting scorchingly high. However, if you weren’t engaged in one of those pastimes, the tracks had a tendency to blur together, to literally drone on. Album number two took that to its logical conclusion by having a 16 minute track - obviously not one for the party playlist.

New album ‘Phosphene Dream’ bucks the trend though, a perfect example being second single ‘Haunting At 1300 McKinley’. Borrowing heavily from classic 60’s blues-rock, a standard progression riff with reverb is lifted up by pounding drums and a driving bass line which doesn’t kick in until nearly a minute has fizzed by. The simplicity of the verses allows Alex Maas’ voice to take centre stage, his impassioned delivery sounding more and more like the musings of some wise sage, a veritable rock shaman from a bygone era.

As quickly as it starts, it’s over, barely two and a half minutes later. It’s their second shortest song ever, incidentally only beaten by ‘Telephone’, their first offering from this LP. Whether through their own volition, or the promptings of producer D. Sardy, their new found prudence suits them, and cutting out the bombast gives their sound a leaner, tighter edge. They still score low for originality, but then The Black Angels were never about re-inventing the wheel – it’s a re-telling of the past and a fondly remembered golden era. And at that, they’re still fairing pretty well.