Album Review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - High Visceral {Part One}

With the recent rise to prominence of bands like Methyl Ethyl and King Gizzard, prog-rock has become a fickle and often nasty territory for newer artists to approach without being haphazardly judged and written off, simply because their craft demands more effort from listeners and is purposely not all that accessible.

High Visceral {Part One} from Perth’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets flips the bird to the status quo and bravely brands its mark on the prog-rock landscape, regardless. There’s certainly a familiarity in the various sounds and textures, but the glue that holds it all together is that it’s so pregnant with still-budding discoveries from songwriter Jack McEwan that once properly absorbed, begs the question as to what a “Part Two” might sound like.

As a vocalist, McEwan is thankfully no stranger to the fact that venturing into the psychedelic realm demands that his voice be utilised almost solely as another instrument in the mix rather than a showy centrepiece. The solid grounding in Luke Reynolds’ and Danny Caddy’s irregular rhythm section is almost impenetrable, as is evidenced on Cornflake and … And The Addled Abstraction of Being, while guitarist Luke Parish commands colour and substance with wonderfully meticulous precision.

High Visceral is a gruelling effort that ought to be afforded a lot more than just a cursory glance. There’s brilliance hidden in these tracks, and that it’s so obscured is what underscores the magic and ensures that the dedicated amongst listeners will reap a gorgeous sonic reward.