The Byrds always had a psychedelic edge \u2013 some posit \u201cEight Miles High\u201d was in fact the first psychedelic song ever.\u00a0 Whichever side of that argument you\u2019re on, the argument itself comes immediately to mind upon being introduced to The Quarter After, part of the self-described \u201c3rd Wave of Psychedelia\u201d and a band that comes off like Roger McGuinn et al after an evening spent listening to Hendrix and the Moody Blues in various altered states of consciousness.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The Quarter After on paper might be termed an indie-rock supergroup with a brother-band twist. Rob and Dominic Campanella lead the way, with Dom featuring on vocals, Rickenbacker 12-string and songwriting, while Rob handles lead guitar(s) and production.\u00a0 They\u2019re joined by bassist Dave Koenig (Spindrift, Brian Jonestown Massacre), drummer Nelson Bragg (Brian Wilson Band) and a horde of name guest stars including the likes of Ric Menck (Velvet Crush, The Tyde), Eric Heywood (Son Volt) and Probyn Gregory (Wondermints).<\/p>\n
The band\u2019s one-sheet also namedrops Teenage Fanclub, and you can hear it in the velvety hooks and crystalline harmonies, but the arrangements stretch out on tunes like the shimmering opener \u201cSanctuary\u201d in ways that suggest jam and prog bands gone by. A number like \u201cNothing Out Of Something\u201d might suggest an earthy CSNY dirge in the early going, but midsong Rob erupts in an extended solo that carries the song off into waves of shearing, gorgeous Wilco-esque distortion. <\/p>\n
Country touches like the dobro used on \u201cCounting The Score\u201d and the slide on \u201cChanges Near\u201d might suggest a more conventional milieu, but they\u2019re only launching pads for this group\u2019s expansive musical vision.\u00a0 The latter title tune in particular blows up the pop-song template, managing to pack jangly riffs, the aforementioned dreamy slide accents, a stomping bridge, a jagged, twisting guitar solo and a thoroughly psychedelic lyric into What\u2019s remarkable is how effectively the lilting Rickenbacker jangle on numbers like the spot-on Byrds-Revolver<\/i> pastiches \u201cShe Revolves\u201d and \u201cTurning Away\u201d melds with the album\u2019s more iconoclastic moments like the rather Renaissance-flavored \u201cWinter Song.\u201d\u00a0 The success of these stylistic digressions make it easier to swallow when the boys invest \u201cThis Is How I Want You To Know\u201d with a rather Kinksians thunder.\u00a0 You might have thought it wouldn\u2019t work\u2026 but it does, and damned well.\u00a0 Same with \u201cEarly Morning Rider,\u201d which captures a \u201cwind in your hair\u201d moment well, then surprises by employing trumpet accents to introduce the driving, jangle-licious chorus, and tripping off in the late going into a soaring guitar-trumpet fantasia.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Anyone who\u2019s ever wondered what the musical path suggested by \u201cEight Miles High\u201d might have sounded like taken to its logical extreme should really pick this one up.\u00a0 Richly melodic and darkly experimental, Changes Near<\/i> is a mesmerizing ride through a musical funhouse of familiar sounds combined in fresh and challenging ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8153],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40772","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-quarter-after","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40772"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}