Antique tribal jewellery hangs around his neck, a pair of aviators obscures his eyes and his beard brushes his nipples through a tie-dyed T-shirt. Chris Robinson is a psychedelic voyager.
As he strums out the first notes on his guitar, you feel yourself sucked into the vortex, you allow yourself to float on a soft bed of psychedelia.
You start awake suddenly in the middle of a cotton field in Fresno, where you remain in a state of pleasant confusion for the next sixty-one minutes.
Big Moon Ritual is the first album from the newly formed Chris Robinson Brotherhood. The ex-Black Crowes singer has had side projects before, but nothing has been quite like this.
Nothing has had the freedom, the air of palpable content that this album imparts upon its listener. The sound is clean and full, aided largely by keys.
Beautiful, understated lead guitar comes courtesy of former Ryan Adams and Cardinals lead guitarist Neil Casal, who occasionally leads into an epic Neil Young-esque guitar ramble.
Stand-out tracks include the soul infused ‘Reflections On A Broken Mirror’, and the haunting ‘Beware, Oh Take Care’.
If you were expecting a psychedelic journey, forget it. If you were expecting an album of country ballads, go buy the Best of Johnny Cash. This is an album best approached without expectations.
With no song less than seven minutes long, it’s hard to believe that these guys give a damn about commercial success at all.
– Jake Vitasovich
