Fruits De Mer Records is one of those home grown DIY operations I'm always glad to hear is still putting singles out. Started back in 2008 they've been pressing local UK psych bands singles and have started to get some attention and based on ebay auction prices they should have pressed more. But you can't see something like that coming, you can't plan on pressing something that will sell. The best audience is yourself, if you sincerely want people to hear it chances are they will feel the same way about the things you're passionate about. Bronco Bullfrog, named after the '70s indie film about East London hoodlums, is a UK based three piece who have absorbed all of those '60s psych sounds and
"Time Waits for Norman" has a real attention to detail of that late '60s and it's the kind of thing that Paul Messis would be into. Theres something about the drum recording from that era and the way they bend down that electric with a wah, sliding in and out of different tempo's all smooth with major backup vocals. The main vocal from Andy Morton all doubled and airy with that dreamy harmony quality the lyric stream of consciousness and weird word associations. They even going as far as running the whole arrangement through a phaser for a verse or two or slowing down the mellow paisley kaleidoscope to then pick it back up into a heavy dance tempo. It's slightly manic sounding this track with something of a Kinks feel. "Rocking Horse Mender" is actually a song about a guy that fixes rocking horses - so sincere but I also have to think they were a little tongue in cheek about this, it's so earnestly describing all the different horses and how they ended up in the shop with a slow soft harmony, I mean what kind of crazy world are they living in? Fingerpicked guitar and those rolling brushes on the snare with a high hat and alternating rim shots. Who doesn't want to live in that ridiculous world where the only problem is the damaged rocking horses, it's such a crazy dream.
B-Side's "Listen To The Sky" is a cover of a track from The Sands and is a little bit heavier with that analog distortion that jumps into jangle crunch bursts, picking up on the nuances of that time period. You can hear the black and white appearance on top of the pops. I get how the individual pieces should sound but putting it all together is where they get this right; that bass has no effects on it at all, the guitars are sustained and distorted following the march snare beat for a second an then flipping that rocker switch on the fretboard for a feedback psych. I'm also hearing a lot of the Lilys later pop indie psych stuff even.
Get this from Fruits De Mer Records.
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