I don’t think we’ve heard from the sporadic Old Gold label in Georgia USA since 2014, and the engagingly odd split LP by Ben Lawless and Squinchy. The item was a slightly skewed take on conventional rock and pop forms, while today’s cassette by Mythical Creatures, called Bamf! (NO LABEL), is leaning in towards the experimental and free-improv genres, while still clinging on to lo-fi indie rock elements with its faded sound, collage methods, and languid washed-out guitar moves.
Marshall Avett and Ben Young are the two main horses credited with these side-long sprawls, but it’s possible guest players may appear too. The main strategy has been to overlay unrelated recordings, mixing different live sessions together any which way, which gives the listener just a shade too much musical activity to process. It fits together well. The artistes like the way they’re on the verge of sacrificing coherence in favour of a pleasant dream-state balminess, and I like it too. The very gentle light-touch approach throughout may mean that this record lacks the force of an average LP by J Mascis, but anything more emphatic would break the spell and send us tumbling out of Slumberland. To those thoughtful fans of avant-dreampop who have been proposing a team-up between Mythical Creatures and Bipolar Explorer, the negotiations are still ongoing; the deal might just pan out if the Bipolars come up with some new songs and the Georgians agree to produce the album.
Decidedly odd cover art; a found photo which, when I look at it closely, depicts a moment on stage at the climax of an escape artist’s act with glamourous lady assistant being released from a tank of water (with an axe wielded by assistant #2). For some reason it conveys the vibe of an unseen still from Jack Smith’s underground movie, Flaming Creatures. Maybe I’m just taking a cue from the band name. In the same vein, there’s a free 12pp art zine included with purchase, filled with collages from magazines and children’s books. “We’re still at it,” Ben tells me in an enclosed letter, “scrounging for the path nearly 30 years on.” Can it really be all that time since Ben and myself met up with Eugene Chadbourne in Amsterdam? (11/10/2023).