De Blimp – Beautiful Liquid
De Blimp are a band from Ontario, Canada. Their latest album borrows heavily from psychedelic rock, stoner rock and post rock, while also incorporating elements of jazz and freeform expression. The album, stylistically, is far closer to Pink Goym than Rhino Giraffe Man. Whereas the Pink Goym felt underbaked, however; Beautiful Liquid is immaculately fleshed out to a grandiose extent.
De Blimp have opted out of the traditional songwriting format in lieu of progressive and expressive free-form improvisations, that both enhance and delight. Whether it’s Abandoned Sea, or the soft careening twangy streams of Niha, De Blimp magnificently articulate a sense of submergence throughout each of their aquatic songs. The title track, Beautiful Liquid, encapsulates De Blimp’s sense of humour impeccably, as does the humorous closer Parvati Mountain and The Forest People; the band have not lost their sense of identity, despite commendably progressing as a group.
The album works best when it explores psychedelic and imaginative soundscapes, such as the beautiful catastrophe of Sitting, or the beatboxing delight of Perculosis; though the album tends to waffle a bit in between these segments, and sometimes not in the most interesting way. Vast Waters opens the album with a refined sound and clear apparition, though is rather plain compared to the grander suites that follow. Furthermore, the instrumentation is generally mixed well as a whole, but the vocals sound very muddy and lacking confidence in the mix. While there’s certainly imposing and majestic soundscapes towards the end of the song, much of the composition is structured too loosely and rather ordinarily to ordain credence. While the remaining tracklisting is much stronger, the album’s experience is dragged down by the opener, and some plain compositions in between that don’t offer much outside of basic free-form expression.
To say the most constructive songs are the best is not entirely true, though; the free-form improvisation of songs such as Disgrace give much life to the album, beautifully heightened by its articulate strumming and immaculate use of space. When all the songs follow the same structure, though, it sounds rather one-note by the end. Nonetheless, Beautiful liquid benefits greatly from a sense of vision; the track-listing is very coherent and flows at an impeccable pace. While the album is technically more impressive than Pink Goym, it’s missing the sharpness of De Blimp’s greater works. Here’s hoping De Blimp find the right balance between refined compositions and free-form expression with their next effort.
Really Good
Listen to it here:
De Blimp – Beautiful Liquid
