by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
Columbarium Niches, the latest from Pennsylvania’s Psychic Flowers, is an ambitious record. Weighing in with no less than twenty songs, it’s the first release from David Settle’s (The Fragiles, Big Heet, Ex-Breathers) lo-fi power-pop project in five years and it would seem he’s got a lot on his mind. Inspired by “odds and ends” compilations from the 90’s (primarily Superchunk’s odds and ends), the record glues together an entire album’s worth of new recordings with a few abandoned b-sides and alternate takes, bringing new life to it all with a host of remote guest contributors. Due out September 25th via Living Lost Records, the album is more album than compilation, think of it as the album and the “deluxe” version, all coming to you in one glorious blaze of glory. There’s a lot to take in but there’s a consistency to the collection even as Psychic Flowers moves between garage pop, basement folk, and fuzzy punk rock.
“Go Man Go,” the album’s first single is a ripper, a song that surges with distortion and momentum in equal measure. Settle is joined on the song by Ronnie Francisco (Protocol, Piston) on drums and Zak Krone (Bruise Bath) on bass, the more than capable rhythm section really swinging for the fences. That urgency ripples into the blistering guitars and the sugary melodies moving right into the lyrics themselves as Settle sings “because you’re just in time, to get out of my mind” and I can’t help but feel like he’s referring to a backlog of songs that need to be released from his head and into the world… but I’ve been known to misread sentiments before. Either way, it’s abundantly clear that this song moves like a ball of kinetic energy, rolling over everything in its wake, adding to the energetic mass as it subsumes us all in fuzzy bliss.