Album Review: InTechnicolour – Midnight Heavyweight (Small Pond Records)

InTechnicolour return with their new album ‘Midnight Heavyweight’, due for release on 4th November via their new label home, Small Pond Records.

Stoner, desert rock and with an infusion of poppy hooks, InTechnicolour’s new album is a uniquely challenging record from a band that continue to push the limits of their imagination and abilities. A band unafraid to see just where the line is (musically) and then make sure they cross it by some margin. In a world of ‘same-olds’, it’s this that makes Midnight Heavyweight such an engrossing listen.

This is anything but the ‘same old’ as across eleven tracks and nearly forty-five minutes, InTechnicolour blur the hazy colour scheme that comes pre-loaded with the term: stoner/desert rock.

The immediate thought upon hearing opener Bloodmoonshine relates to subtle atmosphere and riffs. The next is focused on the vocals and how the light delivery is almost hypnotic. A track with stoner groove that has been warped by the sun. As fascinating as that is as an opener, the uptick in tempo for The Wave really gets the heart pumping. The raw sound of the guitars and the vocal growls that mark a heavier switch, thrills.

Imagination off the charts, and that’s just the first two tracks.

Tokyo Dream is the fuzziest of fuzzies and the dramatic vocals really add a haunting quality to the overall experience. Whereas a short slice of surprisingly emotive atmosphere makes Wake Up Dead Man more than just a footnote. Before one of the album’s moodiest efforts arrives. Called Corner of Time in the World, it finds InTechnicolour offering up convincingly slow-moving melody, deep bassy tones and fragile vocals. Up until around the three-minute mark and everything hits that much heavier and harder.

A palate cleaner is needed after such a mood-altering effort and with Turn It Loose, InTechnicolour deliver the album’s most accessible track. A foot-tapper with riffs and hooks a-plenty. It’s got an indie-rock flavour and is undeniably catchy.

Leaning into surreal and groove-infused soundscapes with the title track, InTechnicolour continue to set the mind aflame. So much so that the distant rumbling distortion of the short intermission that is Remember Not to Forget is a welcome chance to cool down. All so InTechnicolour can relight the fire with Fever Queen and Making Friends with Shadows. Two tracks that bleed into each other but head off in different, but equally thrilling, directions.

The journey is brought to an end with the longest track on the album, Eastman. A track that has a delightful simplicity while sounding suitably grand. It’s a track that grows in stature as InTechnicolour build and build. Ensuring that there’s no flat end here.

InTechnicolour – Midnight Heavyweight Full Track Listing:

1. Bloodmoonshine
2. The Wave
3. Tokyo Dream
4. Wake Up Dead Man
5. Corner Of Time In The World
6. Turn It Loose
7. Midnight Heavyweight
8. Remember Not To Forget
9. Fever Queen
10. Making Friends With Shadows
11. Eastman

Links

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram