Younger Brother - The Last Days Of Gravity

As anyone into Psychedelic should know, you can't really go wrong with Simon Posford. The guy practically invented Goa Trance with his 1995 release "Twisted".

Perhaps the greatest thing about him is his diversity. From the pounding Psytrance of "The Lone Deranger" to the ethnic psybient "Shpongle", the guy is always producing top quality psychedelic music and it's worth checking out all his projects (and don't forget that Benji Vaughn is in Younger Brother too, but he doesn' t have half the reputation YET of the mighty Posford).

However, this album alone is a mixed bag. Things begin with "Happy Pills" which just hits one of those beautiful and pure moments in music. "All I Want" is a much more band-like composition than the guys are usually up to and again, it's great. "I Am A Freak" is interesting... I like "Ribbon On A Branch" a lot and "Psychic Gibbon" is a fine guitar-based piece, although the lyrics are annoying in my opinion. However all of the other tracks, especially "Sleepwalker", I despise. They are filled with clattering synth that is boring and chaotic. Tracks like "Elephant Machine" seem pointless and boring again, and make me wonder what Simon was thinking...

So overall, this album has some fine tracks on it, but it's not consistently great work that you'd expect.

The release is full of amazing musical experiments. Simon and Benji tried to find new approach to pshychedelic sounds. And these true psychedelic masters did the trick. Now they can literelly be called psychedelic twisted magicians.

Guitar sounds and electronic samples fit together in an absolutely dramatic way making this tuneful and interesting work very surprising. While listening to this disk again and again, you will uncover more and more samples, melodies, ideas and emotions, you didn't mention before.

The overall mood of the album is quite sad, in my opinion. And this is great. Anyway, little can be made clear about this release if one uses only words. You'd better listen to it.

The second album from YB finally released after 2 years of waiting. Long ago before releasing it was covered with some legendary aura, and it could lead to some disappointment, what usually follows long-going expectations? But not with Simon Postford and Bejni Vaughan and their fantastic new team.

Half a year before release the tracks were heard at some performances(Camp Bisco 2007, Twisted Birthday Party) and even live performances(Ozora festival 2007). So from the very first sounds everybody understood this is something really different.

Benji and Simon were using their guitar playing skills even before, but in this album live instruments are in leading roles. 3-4 months before the release some videos were also spread with rehearsals from studio work, so that all could feel the atmosphere of new album. It's combining many kinds of styles, not only from electronic genre. I suppose British culture and origins of the artists had great influence on their work. So that many could notice Pink Floyd and other art-rock band-like tunes (Yes, Camel, heard some could notice even Jethro Tull influence!) in the tracks.

1. Happy Pills (The Journey begins)
The journey begins. And this is great beginning! It's not secret that all psychedelic culture is based on mainly magic drugs so this beginning is like first minutes of acid trip peak, when you realize everything is different and great secret is not secret anymore!

Music transforms all the time, new effects and sounds are appearing and disappearing but they're gathered in harmony. Happiness fills the body while listening to this song, you feel the universe, oh god, where have I been before, why is it so fantastic, why, why?

2. All I want (Because)
Why? Maybe because you did not know what to want. But Salvador Dali has better answer. Just believe you are paranoid, insane and you will have the answers like nobody else can give! Paranoiac Critical Method!

This track is masterpiece. You can notice Pink Floyd influence (mainly guitar slides) and Jean Michele Jarre. But anyway his is unique music! Male vocals incoming after the middle is well integrated in the great harmony. Want also to notice drums part, it's exactly like what it have to be, nothing less or more. And the last part. Got stuck in it? Me - Yes!

3. Elephant Machine (Getting Hard)
This track maybe goes to the past, in Shpongled past. Frankly past Shpongle maybe was better, but that guitar chords and melody coming from about 4th minute changes everything! You still understand that this is now and here, and there will be future soon.

4. Your Friends Are Scary (No future)
But with next track future not comes. The moment frozen, it's eternal. This track also reminds me Shpongle, but not as much as previous one. It has more colors and there's some 'undermusic' meaning covered, which I could not catch clearly. Well, not my favorite tracks.

5. I Am a Freak (This is the future)
When I've heard this track from Twisted DVD bonus CD, I was really pleased but! Here, in Album this is part of the great story so now I am pleased much more. Also sounds are clearer and toy can maybe feel that thin edge of reality.

Ok, about the music. Sure, this breaks baseline it not maybe very often used by Simon and Benji, but this is Brilliant try. They could do that. And that changing rhythm and new melody which is coming, coming, coming. Your patience is almost finished, you start to worry. And here it is. Now you thing this was what you were expecting, but no! There's much more! Use this Paranoiac-Critical method, do it. We are the freaks!

The best is if you can listen to this track like the first time. I could do that and know I can change this beautiful world! It can be more beautiful and there are no limits Jonathan!

6. Ribbon On A Branch (Calm down)
Love. Do you know what love is? Well you need about 8 minutes to get closer to the meaning. This track is electronic and more harmonic. I mean more mild, worm and expressing. Why people should kill when they can love? But this is rhetoric question and everybody knows the answer, but very few understand. These guys understand it clearly!

7-8. Sleepwalker Part 1 and 2 (Plateau)
Shpongle again? No, it's something different. The first part is calmer, and the second one is again aggressive a bit, even more then a bit. But in this part I think Hallucinogen and Prometheus are better separately.

9. Psychic Gibbon (Goodbye freak)
Are you feeling you are getting back to the usual world? Has exactly 1 hour (or 6-7 hours?) of colorful, intelligent and full of knowledge and new feelings and emotions, deep and fantastic trip finished already? Yes, maybe you are right, but where is at least one flashback? The first one from the trip, which usually appears exactly after coming back to the body? Here it is dear sirs and madams! Some say this is perfect music but I don't agree as 'Perfect music' is whole album. Again, it's the first reminder about the past album... Did you listen to it carefully? Have you become cleverer? Do you have something to say? No?! Then go back to the start. But if yes, make conclusion. This song is like resume or abstract of whole album, with sadness of coming back. For me it's like that. I've cried when listened to it for the first time, I swear. There was everything: joy, sadness, worrying and calmness, smile and tears. But the strongest was happiness. I recalled the first track, went back to it, and flew.

So… Maybe this is not such 'musical' review of this song, but sorry about that. I can not speak ONLY about music while talking regarding this album. Good luck in experiences with this album.

Rating: 10/10
Best Tracks: 1,2,3,5,9