MV+EE With The Bummer Road - 'Green Blues' (Ecstatic Peace) Released 12/03/07

So there you are, expecting another sky-hugging sprouting of psych-folk prettiness. Instead, 'Green Blues' leaps from the speakers like an aural equivalent of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers careering down a steep hill in their smoke-filled VW Beetle, determined to blow minds and, if possible, turn the clocks back some 40 years to an era when psychedelic excess was the norm rather than an exception limited to wild-eyed explorers operating deep in the odd-folk margins.

If you believe what you read, just about anything that doesn't whimper like an unholy union between Keane and Coldplay is something or other on acid/crack/superglue these days. The restless, ever-evolving tones of 'Green Blues', on the other hand, sound genuinely warped, supernatural even, as if they started with lysergic visions before heading off to more exotic ointments.  Bolstered by their Bummer Road buddies, Tower Recordings veterans MV (Matt Valentine) and EE (Erika Elder) set aside the John Fahey-inspired fingerpicking of their previous duo outings to unleash hypnotic communal freakouts and molten slabs of captivating caterwauling, with riveting results that resemble Espers and Bardo Pond trekking deeper into the woods in search of the ultimate visionary vibes. Equipped with an esoteric blend of instruments - tambura, flute, ukelin, mellotron guest spots from Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis, percussion, wailing blues harp from the brilliant Mo' Jiggs, and tons of screeching, sighing, caressing and grating guitars - and a willingness to balance daringly on the brink of utter chaos, it'd easily succumb to ear-scorching racket, were it not for MV & EE's secret ingredient - tunes.

The hazy handclapping groove of 'East Mountain Joint', glowing warm, fuzzy and weird like the Flaming Lips jamming with Wooden Wand in an incense-filled cabin, would be an inescapable smash in a more just world. The eerily beautiful 'Mine All Troubled Blues', which soothes any frayed nerves by sending Bessie Smith's ancient 'Weeping Willow Blues' to orbit amidst the stars, is even better, whilst 'Grass Thighs' and the epic 18-minute 'Solar Hill' showcase the troupe's improvisational zeal by lowering lovely Spring-filled folkie melodies into a bubbling cauldron of tasty noodlesoup.

"You can't pay the rent with happiness", MV admits on the disorientating 'Canned Happiness', which spikes the Canned Heat-patented slob-boogie stomp with the brain-frying potions Raoul Duke binges on in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas prior to waking up in a thoroughly demolished hotel room. Maybe so, but an album this unique and endlessly inventive should surely keep the landlord at an arm's length, and leave a few quid for well-deserved fun and games as well.