Föllakzoid - I

If anybody deserves credit for trying to find new directions, whether it is just nuances or big leaps in psych-rock it is the Sacred Bones label. And among their artists, the Chilean duo (previously a trio) of Domingæ Garcia-Huidobro and Diego Lorca going under the name Föllakzoid, through their previous three albums and an EP certainly have deserved a special place in the search of these directions.

Their fourth album, titled I, (II and III came beforehand), strongly underlines that fact, and yet again, takes the band into new directions. And that direction always seemed to be space. Space in the sense of the vast emptiness, where the time to reach one point from another, just keeps on getting longer. In the case of Föllakzoid, not just from a physical point to point, but from a single note to another. I guess they are following the concept that space is ever-widening. To a point before it collapses.

German producer Uwe Schmidt, to many known in one of his guises as Atom Heart, Señor Coconut and in this case, Atom TM, seems to have fit in perfectly into this Föllakzoid concept. Somewhat changed this time around.

While previous Föllakzoid albums were done by the complete band in one ‘live’ take, Schmidt had 60 separate instrument stems recorded in isolation from each other to none of which he was present to. He then took these stems and was given a free hand to reconstruct them any way he saw fit.

What we get are four elongated, true space psych explorations that keep pulsating and throbbing, like, erm, space. As guitarist/ singer (no vocals on this one, though, unless you count brief Kraftwerk-like mutations in the second part of track "IIII") Domingæ explains, “We invite you to join us in sharing the experience of being led by this non-rational, sonic art form and its energy. It is also an invitation to connect once again with your inner master and his intuition, erasing the systematic rationalization that usually follows creative forces when perceived, to guide you on this holographic simultaneous simulation where reality is rooted in.” 

It will be 50 years in October next year that Pink Floyd released Atom Heart Mother, one of their best. While you wait for the widely expanded, deluxe release, you probably will not do any better than Föllakzoid’s I.