ALBUM: Last Light // ARTIST: Syrup, Go On
What does cotton candy on an acid trip dream of? Come find out with the brand new album 'Last Light' from Gold Coast psychedelic dream poppers Syrup, Go On which dropped late this week.
Following an eventful 2018 with the release of their debut EP 'Joyful Hesitation', the Goldy's very own purveyors of fanciful psych-gaze, Syrup, Go On, are back and more ambitious than ever with 'Last Light', a ten track album that circles themes of solitude, despair and perilous relationships with a luciously dazed outer shell.
Chiming out with some wavering Big Ben chimes, 'Last Light' begins on a big puffy cloud of distorted dream pop, as 'Syrup Goes On' offers up a dense and thumping wave of instrumental molasses. Following on is 'Mantaray' which firmly sets to chasing the white rabbit through some technicolour bliss while blasting crunching harmonies and rollicking beats, and introducing vocals to the mix. 'Ego Sand' unfurls next, ruminating thematically through some subliminally upbeat instrumentals (and was also apparently written in a haunted room by vocalist Liz Dick). By this stage the four minute run-time as opposed to the shorter opening tracks weighs heavily, with the ongoing wall of sound at times consuming itself without resolution. But by allowing yourself to go along for the ride, the remaining album becomes easier to absorb, and the Tame Impala-esque 'Don't Go (Riding Down The Cosmic Drain)' certainly mixes up the status quo with phased guitars and a kooky surf-rock simplicity that's impossible to dislike.
DON'T GO (RIDING DOWN THE COSMIC DRAIN)
Nearing the midway point we get some male vocals pour through on 'Dismiss Everything (Sweet Nauseas)', crafting popping beats beneath a serene and droning exterior which brightens and builds with intertwining vocals. 'Who Am I Foolin'?' glides in next with jarring melodics that pit strong vocals against a melancholic pressure cooker, showcasing some compelling songwriting to differentiate Syrup, Go On from their fellow indie-psych cronies.
The remaining album careens across achingly beautiful pop ('I Never Wanted You To Care'), hypnotic gaze ('Dreams') and offbeat galactic kooky glitz ('Even The Sun Ain't Designed To Heat Up All Of Us'), with the sludgy 'Reflection' offering up a fresh reprieve with dredged distorted instrumentals building to a haunting and woozy choral outro. The title track lies lucky last in this hallucinatory wonderland, as 'Last Light' forges hazy vocal harmonies like a psychedelic Gregorian chant across a very quick minute, closing out with the lyrics: "so I suppose I should promise myself//to be kinder to everyone else// so I suppose I should promise myself//to let go of anything I have felt".
Currently operating as a sextet, Syrup, Go On spent twelve months in production for 'Last Light', with a bulk of the recording process undertaken by vocalist Tom Briese and co-producer/engineer Jordan Bain - and despite the occasional dip into bleak thematics, there's an overriding sense of eccentric serenity and optimism that drives through 'Last Light'. Like the iconic Rainbow Road track in Mario Kart, there's a whole lotta twists and turns that await with Syrup, Go On's debut LP, at times risking beyond its borderless confines while mesmerising with its dreamlike whimsy. If post punk, shoegaze or psychedelic frivolity is your thing, you may have just found your saccharine soulmate with Syrup, Go On's 'Last Light'.
SYRUP, GO ON'S BRAND NEW ALBUM 'LAST LIGHT' IS OUT IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, WITH SOME SUPER LIMITED EDITION CASSETTE TAPES AVAILABLE FROM THE LEGENDS OVER AT VALLEY HEAT RECORDS.
PLUS! STARTING TODAY, YOU CAN CATCH THE GROUP LIVE IN ACTION, KICKING OFF IN BRISBANE TONIGHT.
BY TIANA SPETER