Consuming the Tangible

There are still moments in this age of instant access where you come across an album whose cover strikes you in such a way you have to try it out. It may be a pale facsimile to browsing the shelves of a local shop, but this introvert hermit will take what he can get. In the case of wonderfully named Brainticket, I was doing my virtual version of the weekly new release perusal for more prog and krautrock via the always reliable LaserCD when I came across the cover for Psychonaut. The Swiss krautrock band released a trio of albums in the early ’70s to little fanfare, but after listening repeatedly for weeks (the length of time I’ve been trying to focus and write this review) there are psychedelic and hypnotic charms to be had.

Arriving just a year after the band’s 1971 debut (the more gonzo Cottonwoodhill), founder and multi-instrumentalist Joel Vandroogenbroeck opens Psychonaut with the woodwind-forward “Radagacuca.” It’s a great showcase for the kind of vibe the band likes to lay down — Vandroogenbroeck’s organ and flute weaving around drummer/percussionist Barney Palm’s rhythms, spending the first half of the track settling you into the zone before giving way to acoustic guitar and the lovely vocals of Jane Free. I really like the way the song slowly twists from one form to another, and the opaque lyrics reveal just enough to not be silly hippy-dippy cheese.

Psychonaut never really rises into a rock cadence, preferring to remain in this groovy, chamber pop realm, with “One Morning” channeling classic period Renaissance while “Watchin’ You” gets a little more riff-heavy with shades of Van der Graaf Generator. There are so many lines that mix in genres; the overlap between prog, psych, and krautrock all blurred in the opening years of the ’70s, and I suspect that’s a big part of why I love the music from that period so much.

Something else this record got me thinking about: opening tracks. (The rest of Psychonaut is fine, by the way — “Like a Place in the Sun” might be their most accessible track.) I know I focus a lot on them in these reviews, because I think that opening salvo should set the stage for everything that comes after it. And in “Radagacuca” I feel like I’m getting Brainticket’s mission statement in one song.

I love when an album does that, introduces itself and then lives up to that promise, however humble or outrageous that introduction is.