Melbourne’s renowned heavy-groove-combo The Seven Ups are back with their latest studio album, A Free Blowing Wind.
The Seven Ups are so criminally underrated.
When it comes to the Melbourne music scene, they get some love no doubt, but considering the level of musicality that the local heavy-groove stalwarts showcase time and time again on their albums, they should really be adorning crowds at festivals worldwide.
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It’s hard to picture anyone that wouldn’t enjoy their music. They possess a universally enjoyable sound that’s just so hard to resist. As soon as you put on one of their records, the band’s lush instrumental soundscapes and groove-laden arrangements transform the room around you.
Their newest effort, A Free Blowing Wind, is no exception to this. As always, it’s part jazz, psych, and funk all in one; but this time around there are a few welcomed change-ups that further expand the group’s already all-encapsulating palette.
‘Introduction’ sets the scene with an enveloping drone, intimidating dread and intrigue as the album’s title track is introduced. Continuing the tone, ‘A Free Blowing Wind’ hums string arrangements into a flutter of horn echoes, providing the perfect backdrop of eastern-tinged psychedelic rhythms for the inclusion of Mind Meng Wang’s hypnotic inclusions of guzheng (Chinese harp). ‘A Cosmic Scale’ toys with dissonance, shoegaze drone and 60’s psych-rock shimmer, while ‘Monoliths’ delivers bashful horns that beg for a boogie, and the closing track ‘River Stones’ delicately adds the distinct flavour of pan flute.
Their sound is infectious. Honestly, if The Seven Ups released a 24-hour-long album, I’d listen to it.
Label: Northside Records
Release date: 22 September
