Mortal Prophets delight the senses with the smooth and thick, honey-like textures of their instrumental, conceptual psychedelic anthems on The Lauren Canyon Lost Sessions 1966-69.
Based in New York City, Mortal Prophets are masterminded by John Beckmann, a sort of mad genius behind the amalgam of genre and decade-hopping psychedelia on the outfit’s latest full-length release. The Laurel Canyon Lost Sessions is a collection of conceptual psychedelic rock tunes that are rich with their woozy organs, hairy guitar riffs, explosive drumming, and all the delicious, 70s-inspired mayhem. The pieces on the album are uniformly funky and chic, carrying traces of disco and dance music, all sounding cohesive through balanced mixes and nuanced production.
Among the album’s most standout tunes in the introductory jam and its litany of electronic keyboards and timeless coolness. Through a slow tempo and instantly recognizable organ sounds, ‘Tune In’ does a fantastic job in introducing listeners to the chill and sensual journey they are about to embark upon. ‘Orange Sunshine’ introduces the jangly overdriven guitar motif that’s part psychedelic, part surf, part Indiana Jones, a guitar part that’s going to make a few more appearances in the album’s upcoming chapter. Alongside the sublime riff, we can find a delicious, funky groove, and a bouncy bass part, both locked tightly unto each other, making for quite an exquisite musical meal. Balanced, produced to perfection, and endlessly engaging.
‘Lookout Mountain’ is a kind-of follow-up to ‘Orange Sunshine’. Building onto similar grooves and melodic ideas, the part 2 is more based on organs and freeform guitars, making it sound akin to the pieces found on Air’s The Virgin Suicides. ‘Sunset Strip’ is a delicious guitar-led vamp that’s populated by a lush arrangement of guitars playing some exciting desert blues shapes and riffs. Lasting for a little over 2 minutes without a particular groove, ‘Sunset Strip’ has an invigorating sense of being left hanging mid-air before the tight grooves of ‘Spaced Out’ bring us back down to the ground. With a few memorable guitar and keyboard riffs, ‘Spaced Out’ is another piece that continues to lay down Beckmann’s seemingly endless melodic ideas.
The penultimate ‘Astral Rays’ is jagged, intense, and noisy. A symphony of overdriven, looping guitars, whirring endlessly in space. The lack of a defined groove once again acts as a catalyst in driving a piece’s freeform nature home. The closer is like the album finally submitting to its surf rock affinity. Aptly titled ‘Surf Lodge Psycho’, everything from the song’s clanging drums and maniacal drum fills to the tremoloed guitars and swirling organs make up a song that ends the album with a properly stylish attitude.
Mortal Prophets excel in creating such lush moods and eternally danceable grooves on their Lost Laurel Canyon Sessions. A delightfully quirky and balanced listen that left us hungry for more.
