Paradigm Shift

From Hate Meditations’ hometown of Leeds comes this LP from Amon Acid. To call ‘Paradigm Shift’ an amalgamation of Hawkwind and Electric Wizard would be simultaneously a great disservice yet entirely true. In the literal sense, Amon Acid have taken the slow, brooding doom of Electric Wizard, which rooted its significance not so much in the power of the riffs as their deliberate rumination and repetition of atomised musical units too basic to be called themes. They have then combined this with the haze and swirl of early Hawkwind which came to be known as “space rock”; as with the hollowness of that particular cliché, Hawkwind, for all their early innovations, could never quite take their ideas beyond the hammy platitudes of late Space Age fatigue.

The point is that both Hawkwind and Electric Wizard, despite being trailblazers in their respective fields and eras, were both famously limited and limiting. Not just in and of themselves, but also in the genres they helped to shape in their own image, which were (notable exceptions aside) famously cliché ridden and formulaic.

Which is where ‘Paradigm Shift’ may be worthy of closer study. The raw components of these antecedents are all there. The droning chords fashioning the merest shadow of a groovy stoner riff, but ultimately remaining too minimal to fully “emerge”. Yet by virtue of brooding on these so deliberately, they ultimately dictate everything that follows, from the shape of the drum patterns to the entire structure of each track. Sarantis’ vocals in turn also call to mind the understated crooning of Jus Oborn, although admittedly with more raw talent in this department. Then there’s the swirl of Hawkwind style psychedelia that functions more as a series of ambient textures and colours that vary in intensity and pitch at the most basic level; trading in sensory overload as opposed to dazzling musicality.

So much for raw ontology, now for some value judgements. After the hesitant opening track proper in ‘Monarch’ – which meanders about pleasingly enough, but fails to conclude or progress anywhere memorable – things take a turn for the interesting. ‘Alien King’ pivots on some intricate harmonic minor arpeggios that determine the shape of the rest of the track, which shifts about in a way that is both absorbingly atmospheric and intellectually engaging. The addition of clean guitar – and the wise choice to leave plenty of empty space in the mix to allow for its articulation – is a welcome variant rarely taken up by stoner bands (save YOB maybe).

After ‘Alien King’ the album proceeds in a similar manner in terms of structure. Each track is built around two or three very simple ideas, shifting between them with pleasing regularity. But these are set to a constant shifting backdrop of feedback and synths that build textures gradually and deliberately, ebbing and flowing but moving in a clear upward trajectory as the track progresses. The result is a lurking tension and jeopardy behind what can sometimes be a comforting veneer in the manner of ambient music. There are moments that lack direction and dwell on a fixed point beyond its shelf-life, but by stoner doom’s standards Amon Acid are positively frugal. The finale of the closing number and title track takes a while in coming, but the listener is rewarded for their patience as the riffs compound on one another to create a sense of drama ending in catharsis.

Whatever flaws this album has are small. Over and above this it should be celebrated for raising the stakes for a genre that many have abandoned as one dimensional and out of ideas. But as is often the case, problem is not the genre but lack of vision. Amon Acid take pleasingly incremental steps into new sonic territory, not overtly experimental or abrasively avant-garde, but certainly with a character all of its own, one well worth paying attention to.

Originally published at Hate Meditations