Read any description of the music of Glasgow’s The Cosmic Dead: amorphous space rock, psychedelic stoner epics with krautrock rhythmic tendencies…in other words, tailor-made for me. So of course, as my friends insisted I would love 2024’s Infinite Peaks, I pushed back. Maybe I needed to discover the band for myself, because here we are a few years later with Beyond the Beyond, and I love it. Got into it so much I bought it, Infinite Peaks (there, Josh, now you can say I told you so), and their fantastic split with Giöbia, a band I’m already on record as liking a great deal. But it started with the latest, so we’re starting there, too.
The first thing standing out on Beyond the Beyond‘s four lengthy jams is the instrumentation. In between the enveloping percussion and undulating bass rhythms are layer upon layer of synths, electronic processing, and…fiddle? Yup, guitars play a more minimized role here; most of the crazy electronic melodies issuing forth originate elsewhere and come heavily modulated — this might be the only record where everyone on it is listed as also performing on wah.
Opener “Further” sets the tone for the album with 16 minutes of Neu!-inspired motorik space rock, the group intoning syllables to hook you up for traveling along their interstellar pathways. Interestingly, I’m drawn instead to the shorter, punchier rock of “Stronger” with its almost funky attack and bricked distortion. It’s all vibe, no filler, and I formally apologize for the amount of time that particular “v” word is going to pop up as I review their other releases.
Side B initially takes a more subtle, solemn approach with the nine-minute “Aurora” opening with a hypnotic bass line that the remaining members slowly build around, reinforcing the bass’s cadence but also protecting it? That’s the impression I get listening to how the band works together, and it comes back on closer “Aether,” starting slowly, almost tentatively with a meditative chant that slowly grows in presence and aggression to hit a level of menace, leaving you unsettled…
But ready to dive right back in again.
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