Black Moth Super Rainbow’s sixth LP, Panic Blooms, is the band’s first full-length effort in five years, yet the Pennsylvania ElectroPop project shows no signs of aging. Revisiting the distortion-clogged sound of its early material, BMSR’s latest output exists in an alternate reality in which the entire latter half of the 20th century exists as a single moment in time. On a base level, the quintet duplicates the raw energy and technicolor soundscapes of the pre-Watergate Garage Rock era, but the psychedelia is tinged with synth melodies that hearken back to the meditative kitsch of ’80s New Age cassettes, Shoegaze’s whispery and often indecipherable vocals and the penchant for dissonance that flourished during Grunge’s reign.
BMSR remain timeless simply because the band isn’t confined to our timeline. They’re a cosmic Bomb Pop, floating in a vacuum, dripping melted cherry syrup into the void. Tracks like “Sunset Curses” and “Baby’s In the Void” do an especially good job of manipulating matter, treating acid-washed chord progressions like the combination of cornstarch and water you might have concocted in a grade school science class, exhibiting the properties of both a solid and a liquid as they’re kneaded by lo-fi drum machine rhythms.
Panic Bloom’s isn’t a radical departure from the band’s earlier work by any means, but it does serve as a lower-tempo reminder of what its respective members do best. Frontman Tobacco toys with the cyborgian quality of his vocals while keyboardist Maux Boyle (aka The Seven Fields of Aphelion) concocts analogue synth compositions that flirt with Neo-Classical grandeur. The rhythm section, composed of Steve Reidell, Pony Diver and Iffernaut, lay down sparse and sometimes wonky grooves that allow ample space for BMSR’s signature experimentation.
With 15 years of history under its belt, the group consistently pushes toward polish and refinement without sacrificing its weirdness. See Black Moth Super Rainbow Thursday and witness a group of seasoned musicians that haven’t let experience temper their curiosity.
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This article appears in Jun 6-13, 2018.
