Rare Seed is a psychedelic solo project by New Orleans based multi-instrumentalist Lex Condes, mixing pure blues rock influences with psychedelic sounds and effects creating a significant sound that’s only his own. We took a listen to his new record “Blue Basin” that’ll be out on the 18th of April, 2022 and couldn’t resist to dig deeper into it so, hop on and join me on this trip.
“Blue Basin” starts with a practical demonstration of Rare Seed’s points of strength on “The Royal We”, significant well-crafted guitar melodies and interesting basslines backed with psychedelic vocal melodies are the record’s protagonists and you can see this clearly on this great opener. “Hazy Malaise” keeps the groove alive with some bluesy energetic melodies although it has tricky mellow intro but, it shifts into a fun tune with a haunting chorus melody and of course, killer bassline. The Rare Seed melodic trip takes us to “Standing Walls Crashing Waves” which is simply a stream of beautiful fluid feel-good melodies throughout the whole song, from the mellow intro to the well-crafted layered verse melody to the chorus and post chorus till we reach that fast-paced mood refreshing outro making it one of my favorites. Things get more dynamic and relatively heavier with “Sluice your Mind”, that heavy bass gave it character and texture and it’s perfectly mixed with the chord-based rhythm, all elements organized carefully in an interesting structure. “Lake of Light” starts with a psychedelic kinda teasing “space rock” intro before turning into an energetic rock n roll riffing and structure. And to spice things up even more, you get a heavy riff and change in tempo at a perfect timing around min 2:40 leading into an obscure outro that matches the intro’s soundscapes and paves the way for the upcoming psychedelic dream which is “Hard Boiled Wonderland”. “Hard Boiled Wonderland” is another brief demonstration of using sounds and effects to create a sonic relief right at the middle of the record marking the change of mood that comes next. “Wavy Pictures” offers a change of mood, with fuzzy guitar melodies and soft arpeggios mixed with that emotional vocal melody transferred a sweet melancholic, sad feeling. Things get more mellow on “Blood Filled Skull” with its flowing smooth melody and groovy bassline and those interesting soundscapes throughout the song and specially at the outro. “Undulations” comes next to take you on a whole different trip, it’ll put you in a meditation mood with its smooth ups and downs making it worthy of its name and setting the mood for the album’s title song and grand finale “Blue Basin” that ends the trip on a feel good, dreamy note with its guitar melody that’s fit for a drink in your hand and dimmed light.
“Blue Basin” feels like a colorful psychedelic acid trip, it has lots of sounds and textures with its carefully designed soundscapes, effects and fluid melodies from the 1st to the last note. It’s that kind of record that’ll leave you feeling good and will make you listen carefully to every note and movement with its melodic guitar work, catchy structures and dynamics. Looking forward for more from Rare Seed and recommending that you grab a drink, dim your light and take this trip once you read this review. Cheers!
