The Babe Rainbow’s King Gizzard-Produced Debut is Psychedelic Mishmash (ALBUM REVIEW)

[rating=6.00]

The psychedelic rock scene is efficacious in Australia. From Tame Impala in Perth to The Baudelaires in Melbourne, the psychedelic movement is as alive in Oz as it is in the rest of The West. Newcomers to the scene, The Babe Rainbow bring their contribution with their self-titled debut produced by Eric Moore from fellow Aussie psych-band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Their sound is reminiscent of summer and the beach, which seems appropriate as they hail from the surfer town of Byron Bay. The trio, going by the names of Kool Breeze, Arrow, and Blue Spirit, instantly bring to mind the monikers of the Spacemen 3, who used Sonic Boom and J. Spaceman. However, instead of making ambient psych sounds like Spacemen 3, The Babe Rainbow’s songs are laced with twanging guitars, wah wah, and whimsical lyrics.

Considering that The Babe Rainbow has previously released a four song EP and a few singles to high praise, their self-titled debut is more of a mixed bag. The album opens with one of its best tracks, “Losing Something”, and with its bluesy riffs with a tinge of psych-pop it feels more like Grateful Dead circa 1970. It is followed by the standout track, “Peace Blossom Boogie”, which fully embraces the sunny psychedelic pop that flowed from San Francisco in the Sixties. Had the rest of the album embraced the sound of these first two tracks, then the album would be a perfect soundtrack to a sunny day. Unfortunately, besides “Cosmic Now”, which features a sitar and flute over some groovy riffs, the rest of the album feels like a mishmash of different styles. “Monkey Disco” sounds like an Isaac Hayes disco funk song with electronic noises and nonsensical lyrics (to be fair, some are in French.) “Fall in Love” sounds like an R&B jam on acid with random sound effects thrown in, and “Charms Travel” comes across like a trippy doo-wop song from the Fifties.

While previously released songs by The Babe Rainbow were reminiscent of summer and the beach, the use of sound and vocal effects paired with too many musical styles make their eponymous debut fall flat. On the bright side, this is only the first of three albums that the band has recorded and if they contain songs more in line with the hazy, sunbaked tracks on their EP or the stand out tracks from this album like “Losing Something” or “Peace Blossom Boogie” then we could be in for some really groovy albums.