Psychid - 'Psychid' (DB)
2/5
By: Clara Burtenshaw
Just who are Psychid?
Certainly, the enigmatic album-sleeve gives away very little that could allude to the band or the substance of their music; even after listening to the record, one would be pressed to describe the elusive sound that made its way from such a long-player and held your ears hostage for a whole forty minutes.
While the psychedelic influences and electronica might suggest a Radiohead on the cusp of recording 'Amnesiac', there are also murmurings of a youthful Beck floating around amidst the Oxford combo's swanky debut. Like the smell of damp on drawn curtains while it's still daylight outside, Psychid's balance between light and dark is a fine line they keep well. Testimonial, it is little surprise to discover songs such as 'Digging For Victory' quickly receiving considerable, London-based airplay, a mesh of electronic string smatterings, synths and the lyrics of a decided and desperate man soon enabling Psychid to standout as a band that command and bark for the listener's attention.
Opening track 'Split Lip Sucker', the album's only acoustic number, is a composition that aches epic, of insomnia and paranoiac sweats, lifted and buoyed by pained and desolate vocals. 'Moonshine', however, is perhaps the work's most experimental ember - and a dark one at that, but impeded by the equability of the dense, impenetrable sound that initially marks it out.
Further findings? Psychid are no less an interesting ensemble with an unusual rumble, but it is one that is marred by a tendency to turn every song into a rock outro three-quarters of the way through. Psychid will either be the bęte noire of the indie-world, or the band that will besot fans of Coldplay. With a little more courage behind their convictions, the deserved latter should prevail.
Artists in this article: Psychid
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