Ozric Tentacles: The Yumyum Tree (2009)

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: August 11, 2009

Twenty-five years and still going strong, legendary U.K. prog-rock outfit Ozric Tentacles releases its first studio album since 2006's The Floor's Too Far Away (Magna Carta Records). Interestingly enough, the musicians recently moved to Colorado to hone in on the U.S. festival and jamband scenes.

This 2009 date doesn't proclaim anything strikingly new, when considering the band's signature fusion of prog and space rock; however, it does present a rather phantasmagorical climate, teeming with MIDI treatments and a moveable wall of sound.

Featuring expanded theme-building frameworks, the band once again stretches out its music with elongated, jam-based workouts amid various spikes and upsurges. Synthesist Joie Hinton adds sweeping and trickling effects, while generating prismatic backdrops as guitarist Ed Wynne dishes out chunky crunch chords and soaring single note lines. The rhythm section's driving beats keep this ship afloat as well, and they toss in a few reggae grooves in spots.

Ozric's music resonates—it's largely about sparkling and multicolored psychedelics, complete with MIDI-vibes and a few ethereal segments, sometimes abetted by notions of weightlessness.

In addition, the program gels via the artists' balanced approach, consisting of asymmetrical parts, rock and supersonic jaunts into the cosmos. Ozric Tentacles doesn't travel at the speed of light, but offers a steady-state audio experience to a solar system adventure for the body and spirit.

Track Listing: Magick Valley; Oddweird; Mooncalf; Oolong Oolong; Yumyum Tree; Plant Music; Nakuru; San Pedro.

Personnel: Joie Hinton: synths, keyboards; Ed Wynne: guitar; Roly Wynne: bass; Nig Van Gelder: drums.

Record Label: Snapper
Style: Fusion/Progressive Rock