REGAL WORM - Worm!

Behind the name Regal Worm lies Sheffield musician Arrod Gosling, a devotee of electronic music, psychedelic rock and progressive rock. The Regal Worm project started in 2011 and now arrives at its fifth LP with "Worm!".

Gosling clearly shows his passion for the most ironic and disenchanted strand of progressive rock, for that side of psychedelia that can marry pop sensibilities without ever sounding banal, forging a synthesis of the psychedelic folk of the Byrds, Canterbury scene bands like the early Soft Machine of Robert Wyatt, the sci-fi worlds of the Gong of Daevid Allen, and the contemporary psychedelic pop of bands such as Tame Impala or King Gizzard.

A hippie well out of his time, Gosling manages to sound decidedly vintage with cosmic synths, lo-fi sounds and a thoroughly 60s atmosphere, albeit modernized by the near-constant use of the vocoder. "The Steppe Nomad Space Program" is the longest track, an attempt at a pop symphony that opens with sounds of Eastern European folk music before being flooded with synths and sonorities first beat, then prog, soundtracking a fanciful alien invasion in which the extraterrestrials are welcomed by the nomadic peoples of the steppe.

Gosling blends his ingredients like a pot-smoking alchemist, as one might imagine from melodies as weird as those of "Chlorophyllia" or the lysergic pop of "Don't Freak Out The Creatures". If the intent is fundamentally playful, with amusing space-rock intrusions ("Regal Wishbone"), underneath there's a certain disenchantment, almost a hope that only a group of aliens could bring a bit of happiness to the sorry state of twenty-first-century humanity.

Anyone who loves the melodies of Caravan, the prog keyboards of Egg or Soft Machine, and the irony of Gong will be hard-pressed not to appreciate "The Worm!".

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

12/12/2022