Album Review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Night Gnomes

When recording their fifth album in frontman Jack McEwan’s home studio in Perth, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets took a deliberate decision to turn each track on its head, so that “every song has an ending that is completely different than the first part”.

Thus, the title-track veers from a whimsical opening salvo to a folk-rocking finale, and ‘Sherbet Straws’ manages weirdly to sound both dreamy and immediate. The big meaty riffs of ‘Lava Lamp Pisco’ could have come from the Sabbath songbook, allied to caterwauling guitars and a rhythm section that raises a royal rumpus. The wonderfully titled ‘Dread & Butter’ sees them unplugging the distortion pedals for a gentler, more acoustic affair, wherein McEwan’s lyrics are actually decipherable.

Too often, though, the vocals are buried in the mix, like on the frantic rifferama of ‘Acid Dent’, the would-be anthemic ‘Bubblegum Infinity’ or the closing ‘Slinky Holy Water’. A pity, as there’s a wealth of infectious tunes hiding amid the murk.