Dream State
Psychic Ills' Elizabeth Hart On the Band's Sraightforward New Album
By Patrick Bowman
Photographed by Jasmine Pasquill
From the first, echoing twangs of a thrumming Ozark harp and the proceeding narcotic-infused guitar riff on "Midnight Moon" -- track one from Psychic Ills' hypnotic, aptly titled third album Hazed Dream -- things are slightly out of focus. Lead singer Tres Warren's mumbled vocals saunter in from the fog and quietly observe in a bewildered tone "Walking down the road, I didn't know who I'd see/Saw your face right beside me."
But even while "Midnight Moon" appropriates the Vaseline-on-the-lens dream state inferred by the album's title, the track turns out to be as sparse and straightforward as anything Psychic Ills have recorded. Stripping away the caterwauling drones and acid-rock improvisations that made the group's first two records, 2006's Dins and 2009's Mirror Eye, beautiful, enigmatic and maddening in equal measure, Hazed Dream reveals itself to be a surprisingly focused and affecting psychedelic rock record.
"[With our first two records] it was a different way we were working with things, jamming things out, playing those songs live and seeing where they went. It was kind of an exploration," says bassist Elizabeth Hart. "Making this album was almost completely opposite to our previous approach. We wanted to move toward actual songwriting and composing,"
During a two year period following Mirror Eye that was marked by smaller releases, signing to like-minded Sacred Bones Records, repeated tours and line-up transitions (drummer Brian Tambarello moved to California while Hart and Warren remain in NYC), Psychic Ills adjusted accordingly to the new order.
To record Hazed Dream, the group had to piece together song components from other sides of the country before being forced into a time-crunch studio session with established producer Mitch Rankin (Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice). Just by looking at the average track length alone (nothing longer than five minutes with the shortest track being two minutes), it's obvious Psychic Ills scaled back and boiled their sound down to its bare essentials. But, regardless of their new songwriting method and recording approach, the album shows a welcome, concise dimension to the band without sacrificing the loose, hallucinogenic atmosphere that inhabited their most loved work.
"Sometimes, our previous music took a little more patience to listen to. And that's definitely fun to write and play, but maybe at certain times you don't always want to listen to it," said Hart. "I don't know if it was where we were at in our lives or a byproduct of the recording system, but [the new album] is a little clearer, straightforward."
The album's pace is still on par with a long evening of extra-sensory experiences assisted by, say, massive drug in-take, but there's never a disturbing moment during the trip. Tracks like the heady "Mind Daze" and meandering "Incense Head" play like an condensed, less intense version of Quicksilver Messenger Service's seminal live record Happy Trails, while the languid "Mexican Wedding" is arguably the group's prettiest song to date, complete with a bluesy harmonica breakdown as the track's centerpiece. If anything, Hazed Dream doesn't have drastic peaks or valleys, but moves gradually along its own astral plane without much effort.
"[The sound of Hazed Dream] is just what we were interested in moving into," says Hart. "I enjoy different kinds of music that puts me in different moods but, I think we were just drawn to writing record where there are songs to sing along to, songs to put you in a good mood."
But even while "Midnight Moon" appropriates the Vaseline-on-the-lens dream state inferred by the album's title, the track turns out to be as sparse and straightforward as anything Psychic Ills have recorded. Stripping away the caterwauling drones and acid-rock improvisations that made the group's first two records, 2006's Dins and 2009's Mirror Eye, beautiful, enigmatic and maddening in equal measure, Hazed Dream reveals itself to be a surprisingly focused and affecting psychedelic rock record.
"[With our first two records] it was a different way we were working with things, jamming things out, playing those songs live and seeing where they went. It was kind of an exploration," says bassist Elizabeth Hart. "Making this album was almost completely opposite to our previous approach. We wanted to move toward actual songwriting and composing,"
During a two year period following Mirror Eye that was marked by smaller releases, signing to like-minded Sacred Bones Records, repeated tours and line-up transitions (drummer Brian Tambarello moved to California while Hart and Warren remain in NYC), Psychic Ills adjusted accordingly to the new order.
To record Hazed Dream, the group had to piece together song components from other sides of the country before being forced into a time-crunch studio session with established producer Mitch Rankin (Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice). Just by looking at the average track length alone (nothing longer than five minutes with the shortest track being two minutes), it's obvious Psychic Ills scaled back and boiled their sound down to its bare essentials. But, regardless of their new songwriting method and recording approach, the album shows a welcome, concise dimension to the band without sacrificing the loose, hallucinogenic atmosphere that inhabited their most loved work.
"Sometimes, our previous music took a little more patience to listen to. And that's definitely fun to write and play, but maybe at certain times you don't always want to listen to it," said Hart. "I don't know if it was where we were at in our lives or a byproduct of the recording system, but [the new album] is a little clearer, straightforward."
The album's pace is still on par with a long evening of extra-sensory experiences assisted by, say, massive drug in-take, but there's never a disturbing moment during the trip. Tracks like the heady "Mind Daze" and meandering "Incense Head" play like an condensed, less intense version of Quicksilver Messenger Service's seminal live record Happy Trails, while the languid "Mexican Wedding" is arguably the group's prettiest song to date, complete with a bluesy harmonica breakdown as the track's centerpiece. If anything, Hazed Dream doesn't have drastic peaks or valleys, but moves gradually along its own astral plane without much effort.
"[The sound of Hazed Dream] is just what we were interested in moving into," says Hart. "I enjoy different kinds of music that puts me in different moods but, I think we were just drawn to writing record where there are songs to sing along to, songs to put you in a good mood."
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