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One to Watch: Syd Arthur
Indie | Monday 15th December 2014 |
It would be easy to overlook Syd Arthur in a year that has seen so many bands emerge under the Psych Rock umbrella. However, to do so would be a mistake. Releasing their second studio album Sound Mirror in June of this year to much critical acclaim and to the praise from the likes of Paul Weller, Syd Arthur are definitely a band to keep an eye on next year. Merging folk with elements of funk, jazz, progressive rock and sixties psychedelia without sounding dated; Syd Arthur create a sound that is both innovative and contemporary in a time when so many of their peers are bogged down in nostalgia.
Hailing from Canterbury in Kent, and often described as heirs to the Canterbury scene of the late 1960s, Syd Arthur have been performing under a variety of names since 2003. Since then they have been steadily gaining ground within the industry, releasing two full length albums and touring extensively across Europe and America. 2014 has been a big year for Syd Arthur, with the band securing support slots with the likes of Yes and Sean Lennon’s The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger and performing at festivals across America, including Coachella and South by Southwest.
Their latest studio offering Sound Mirror is a glorious blend of folk-inspired melodies, subtly complicated rhythms and whirling instrumentation. At times gentle and at others more forceful, Sound Mirror sees the band deliver some of its most melodically direct material to date. This is evident on tracks like Hometown Blues, where the band opt for more conventional song structure and powerful chorus refrains. That being said, there are plenty of moments of jamming and improvisation on the album, such as on Singularity, that have come to define the bands live sound. The album was produced and engineered by the band themselves within their recently refurbished Wicker Studios in South East London, and was released on revived prog-rock label Harvest.
The thing that separates Syd Arthur from the many other so-called Psychedelic bands of this year is that after listening to their album, you are left with the feeling that they have many more albums left in them and many more musical ideas to explore. Whereas, with the majority of other new Psych bands, you can't help but wonder whether cloning the sounds of their idols is all that they are able to do.
Oli Swan
