Setting - Setting (Thrill Jockey) [Psychedelic]

*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's May 2nd Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***

I’ve been waiting for this one to drop ever since the LP opener, “Heard a Bubble” burst through my speakers in January, causing multiple flashbacks. Setting are a live and direct trio consisting of the ever intriguing musical misfit Nathan Bowles on keyboards, banjos, tapes and percussion; unknown quantity, to me at least, Jaime Fennelly on synthesisers and freaky fave Joe Westerlund hitting drums, percussion, and metallophones whilst plucking a bit of zither — so something of a TSMM approved, North Carolina psychedelic supergroup, but unlike most supergroups, these guys are more than the sum of their parts. Their sophomore is a trip and a half.

Altered state-encouraging, trance-state-inducing music is the order of the day. Instruments are set for the heart of the sun, and once you hit play, there’s no turning back. There’s a rare fluidity to the album, which has been honed though endless practise sessions and free-spirited live shows - lessons were learned, duende moments remembered and repeated, synergy evolved, and telepathic channels opened. The ghosts of krautrock and space rock greats haunted the studio — whooping and willing them on, but this is no tired pastiche, this is Setting’s thing. Clunky motorik rhythms have been replaced by a more fluid, almost far-out funkiness and the effects pedals and synths map out new dimensions rather than follow existing charts.

The self-titled album’s energy ebbs and flows: from the straight in at the deep end, probably live show ending, “Heard a Bubble” that, be warned, might cause breathlessness and lightheadedness, and which, on advice from their insurers, is followed by the lower intensity, floppy and freaky funkiness of “Gum Bump” which bumps, ripples and pulses its way into your consciousness. The contemplatively entitled, “What Kind of Fish is a Turtle” gets the suitably ambient, mildly ritualist soundtrack it deserves; just perfect for you to ponder the question, and possibly the nature of existence whilst you’re at it.

The trio then set up a camp and light a fire on a faraway planet, and whilst staring into the flames explored the freakiest, dreamiest, furthest corners of the folk spectrum - easing you into the strange surroundings with some electroacoustic cosmic vibes, but beware, the track creeps up on you like that last beer you shouldn’t have had, and by the end you’ll find yourself in a different place. The psychedelic mission loses all subtlety on “Derring-do“ (they warned you), the album’s finale. The trio obviously approaching their glowing destination, with no choice but to rapidly escalate the easy intro in lysergic leaps and ritualist bounds. Sounds are hit, plucked, and pressed, refrains tightened, sounds become rhythm and rhythms sound, forming a wall of mind-melting sound designed to reprogram your analytical and critical thinking with heightened perception and unbridled imagination, just how it should be. I’ll be surprised if there’s a better psyche album this year, and I’m guessing the live show is a thing of wonder.

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Playlist Companion

Find Setting in the Slow Psyche Playlist.