Dead Meadow - The Nothing They Need

by Paul Waller

published: 31 / 5 / 2018

Label: Xemu Records
Format: CD

intro

Washington DC’s psych rockers Dead Meadow breeze through album number eight like nothing has changed at all

It is business as usual with Dead Meadow. At least that’s what I hope for when the band release a new album, and this one contains contributions from every member that has ever recorded with them in order to celebrate the group’s twentieth anniversary. So, if ever there was a case for a band to not move on to new musical territories it’s this one. I have to admit I got what I wished for here. The stand-out track is ‘The Light’ which sets the guitars into fuzz setting from the off before finally settling on a trippy vocal line which sounds as if vocalist Jason Simon simply walked into the studio and laid down his current musings on a whim. It’s so gloriously laid back that after listening to the extended instrumental section that closes the song I wondered if the band simply forgot to record the rest of the vocals and simply thought nothing more of it. Album opener ‘Keep Your Head’ is actually full of vocals but doesn’t rely on them in any way to entice the listener in. All that work is set up with the glorious guitar leads and rhythm work. Honestly it’s so flawless and lazy and high. Dead Meadow make ‘chilled out’ sound ridiculously easy. Let’s hope they don’t make us wait another five years for the next instalment.

Track Listing:-

1 Keep Your Head
2 Here with the Hawk
3 I'm so Glad
4 Nobody Home
5 This Shaky Hand is Not Mine
6 Rest Natural
7 The Light
8 Unsettled Dust

Band Links:-

http://www.deadmeadow.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DeadMeadowOfficial
http://www.songkick.com/artists/471526-dead-meadow

Label Links:-

http://www.xemu.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Xemu-Records-160065924031794/
https://twitter.com/XemuRecords
http://xemu.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtf60U-J0KC1eQLbfgNU6yQ

live reviews

Firebug, Leicester, 2/10/2013

Anthony Strutt is excited by American three-piece Dead Meadow's psychedelic blues in a deafening show at the Firebug in Leicester

Babylon, Ottawa, 3/7/2004

favourite album

Dead Meadow (2013)

Richard Lewis reflects on much acclaimed Washington DC psychedelic/stoner rockers Dead Meadow's 2000 eponymous debut album, which has just been reissued

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