Coolonaut’s dusty debut bridges the gap between The Beatles and The Black Angels, borrowing the pop sensibilities of the former supergroup and using it to lighten the hardcore psychedelia of the latter, more modern act, for results that are readily accessible, gritty, unique, and wholly gripping on Tales From The Black Stump.
The cheekily named Coolonaut is Shakeel, a singer and songwriter originally from Scotland, now based in the rural Australian town of Coolah. Referring to himself as a one-man creative tornado, Coolonaut is the sole proprietor of all sounds featured on the album’s 12 songs. The music ranges in tempo and direction quite a lot, from straightforward psych-rockers to hazy and drunken ballads, while maintaining a consistent flair of fuzzy grittiness to the guitars and a curious sense of mystery and adventure to the often modal chord sequences and melodies, resulting is a cohesive and fulfilling listen that’s gripping from start to finish.
It becomes clear from the first bars of the starter ‘Fish Eye Lens’ that Coolonaut will have no difficulty keeping my attention on the music’s textured atmospheres, the thumping riffs and addictive overdriven tones, or the deliciously distant production that covers the music with an unmistakable psychedelic sheen. ‘Monochrome World’ is one of the songs on which Shakeel displays his affinity toward the classical sounds of rock and roll, with a distinctively twangy rhythm guitar part, a pronounced chord progression, and peppy, overdubbed vocals, While ‘Indian Boy’ showcases him at his most psychedelically bountiful. With whimsical synths, the Mixolydian mode’s trademark adventurous sound, a snaky bass part, witty lyrics, and a fantastic songwriting affair, it is easily one of the album’s more outstanding songs.
Coolonaut does not do cut and paste on his music either, with his songs being intricately structured and tightly composed, making for entertaining listens, with the jangling ‘The Jacket’ being a prime example of his ability to form simplistic musical ideas into holistic and immersive listens. Nor is he complicit in that regarding the songs in their entirety, with the songs being, for the most part, vividly different. ‘Is That A Vespa’ is a momentous instrumental with a beastly bass part and shimmering guitar performance, boasting a psychedelic sound akin to The Black Angels, vastly different to the Aloa Input psychedelia found on the aforementioned ’Indian Boy’. ‘The Man Who Knows It All’ and ‘Human Dispensing Machine’ are two late albums that carry their Beatles influence proudly on their sleeves. Jangly and bustling guitars, buoyant bass lines, and memorable melodies walk hand in hand with the hazy production to provide a truly distinctive listen and feel, and with their short runtimes, the condensed goodness is lighter to digest and easier to love.
Coolonaut’s Shakeel is working overtime on Tales From The Black Stump, a truly fascinating debut. A talented artist with a sound he’s deeply passionate about, allowing him to give one tune after the other without faltering or missing a cue, and while the songs on the album will subjectively vary from one listener to another in their value, there will be no denying that Coolonaut has artfully crafted and effortlessly maintained a crisply uniform aura of pure vintage psychedelia all the way throughout the album.
