Label: Soul Selects/Well Kept SecretRelease Date: 12th June When one gets into psychedelic music and they travel down those mind-bending wormholes, you can often find yourself going so deep you hit the bottom and the weird, the indulgent and the heavy just feels familiar and well, not very psychedelic. So as a well-travelled and slighted jaded space cadet, I'm always hyped to hear a band that give me the same dopamine hit I got after hearing pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd or Gong or King Crimson. Vorhex Angel are the project of Jake and Jamin Orrall of JEFF the Brotherhood and Silver Synthetic's Kunal Prakash who get it this sound and feel so right; these lot indulge but it's long-hairs in a hazy room wigging out and forging journeys in sound, it's spacious when needed and tight at the right moments to give that perfect tension and release. Best psych rock I've heard in an absolute age and I can't stop going back for more, it feels like a long lost classic. *discount not valid on this product Sometime around 2024, Vorhex Angel emerged seemingly out of the ether: no social media presence, no identities, simply their name popping up in Nashvilleor New Orleans on a flyer here and there. Those with enough curiosity to attend their live show could be met with any number of unexpected things to spikethe senses: elaborate stage dressing, strobe lights (alternatively, complete darkness), burning things, pre-performance ingestibles. The music at thosefunctions matched the mystery. They were loud, unhinged, and visceral as all hell.If the group's two live releases and debut Heavenly are indeed visceral (Raven Sings the Blues did name them "heirs to the maelstrom of High Rise"), thenfollowup Drain is surely their cerebral offering. Its seven tracks guide the listener from morning to night, a sprawling experimental double album with largerthan life guitar solos, spaced-out drone excursions, and moments of potent intensity throughout. For the first time, we see Vorhex Angel trade their pummelingsonic onslaught for moody and more dramatic pastures. The band—revealed to be brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall of JEFF the Brotherhood and SilverSynthetic's Kunal Prakash—push the parameters of the Vorhex Angel concept outward, inviting new players into their circle, adding more risk and generatingmore reward. "Drain is not in-the-background cooking-type music," warns Kunal, before winking: "Maybe it is for particularly adventurous chefs."Vorhex Angel promises there will be more. More jams, more left turns—just this year, we can expect at least one tour and at least two (!) more albums. Fornow, there is Drain to celebrate, to sit and chew on, to allow the listener to breathe out and in like the music does, with ample room for cerebralcontemplation.TRACKLISTINGSide A1. A ProphecySide B1. Weight2. Okie's Song Pt.13. Okie's Song Pt.2Side C1. Honey2. A SparkSide D1. The Great Fatted Bull (Stone Tablet #36)
