Dolphins surfing the Milky Way

Anybody with half a mind to come off second best in an argument with a solid wall of psychedelic sound could do a lot worse than checking out Oxford’s own Spiral 25.

This currently unsigned act have been plying their trade in technicolour noisemaking since early 2008, and their four-track EP, released last year through digital download, is a minor tour-de-force that harks back to the heavier psych/space rock bands of the late 1960s.

If Hawkwind had enlisted the services of Jim Morrison at any time during their 500+ years on the planet, the result might’ve sounded a little like Spiral 25’s E.P. But less of the comparisons, this is here and now and if this is anything to go by, Spiral 25 is delivering the goods on the current UK psychedelic scene.

The EP kicks off with ‘Let the Light Shine On’, the title being a possible a nod to Pink Floyd’s ‘Let There be More Light’, which is a mind-shattering meld of grinding guitars and bass, interspersed by the sonic squeals of Dolphins surfing the Milky Way. A near impenetrable fug of scorching sound is summoned from the same deep, dark recess the Edgar Broughton Band’s Wasa Wasa dwells in, and it doesn’t let up for the remaining three tracks.

Following the near darkness that is ‘Let the Light Shine On’, we’re once again rocketed into the blackest depths of space for ‘Signals’, a pulsating bassline being our guide through the furthest reaches of the cosmos that brings to mind Pink Floyd’s earliest interstellar excursions. And there’s no ray of light for the remaining two tracks, ‘Shadows In Line’ and ‘Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past)’, the latter a relentless industrial grind punctuated by a rasping harmonica distress call.

Spiral 25’s E.P. is a confident and thoroughly accomplished slice of darkest psychedelic space rock, heavy on distortion and fuzzed-out guitars and bass. The fact this band remain unsigned is something that needs remedying sooner, as opposed to later.

An acoustic live EP, a second record towards the end of the summer, and a collaboration with Fruits de Mer Records are all on the cards for Spiral 25 in 2010. HFoS hope to have an interview with the band up in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile you can get a hold of Spiral 25’s debut EP via various sources by going here

Head Full of Snow