Medicine by Goat–Album Review
Medicine by Goat–Album Review
The number of rock bands in the psychedelic or even the rock canon that features a lead flute player is very small. Other than Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, the flute is more likely relegated to a supporting role or a punch line in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. So, with a talented and instrumentally diverse ensemble like GOAT, a flute comes as no surprise. With a catalog and band history that goes back as far as 2012 (or 1992 depending on the source), Goat seems to reinvent their sound with each successive release. Their most recent release, Medicine, is no exception to that pattern.
Opening with a slow rising sixty seconds (exactly) of found sounds and a voice whispering, “Shall we practice a little meditation together,” the opening track “Impermanence and Death” dives right into a slow flute-driven stomp around a single droning chord before shifting into the song proper. The stomp evolves into a wah-wah-driven wall of noise and distorted vocals at around 2:16. Additional layers of fuzz guitar and the aforementioned flute bring the track to a climax.
The second track, “Raised By Hills” is a radical departure from the opening track – not just instrumentation but a lack of anger. Not unlike a jig or reel played over a shuffle beat, the song hits its stride at 1:00 with the arrival of an analog synthesizer that almost sounds like a violin at first and closes with first a wah-wah guitar and then fuzz guitar drifting off in a sea of reverb.
“I Became the Unemployment Office” has its roots in the group’s point of view that the band as a business had become an obligatory source of cash for some people. Released as “Unemployment Office” as a single, the full 5:13 version on Medicine paints a less aggressive and/or percussive mood. Lyrically it bears a striking similarity to the Rolling Stones’ masterpiece “2000 Light Years from Home.”
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With a hard left vocal pan and obligatory sitar, “TSOD” checks multiple psychedelic music trope boxes. “Vakna” and “You’ll Be Alright” swim in a pool of murky vocals. Flute jokes aside, the instrument is well represented on, not only the opening track, but also “You’ll Be Alright” and the closer “Tripping In the Graveyard.”
How can one legally release a psychedelic record without including some backward guitar – with echo and wah-wah to boot? “Tripping In the Graveyard” closes the album with a slowly building jam that develops into a soaring musical freak-out that would surely make Jimi Hendrix proud. Ending with a vocal and bell drone in a dense wash of delay, Medicine clocks in at just under forty minutes with a mere eight tracks (one track, “Join the Resistance”, is a romping cover of a song by fellow Swedish band Gås). But don’t let those numbers scare you, the density of Goat’s musical material will seem much longer – in a very good way.
Related: The Top 100 Psychedelic Rock Artists of All Time
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