Farflung
A Wound In Eternity
8.9
Farflung is a psychdelic/space/desert/stoner rock band from, of all places, Los Angeles. Their sound is a spirited mish-mash of stoner and space rock but with a modern twist. The best comparison I can draw by known bands is a mix of Hawkwind, Queens of the Stone Age, '70 to '72 Pink Floyd and possibly even some Turbonegro. The music is centered around driving rhythms, as opposed to Sabbath groove, with lots of spacey guitar effects and very interesting synth effects. I'm thoroughly intrigued to explore this band's back catalog and hear the actual progression of the band from the mid 90s, until now. In the meantime, A Wound In Eternity caught me completely off guard.
My initial draw to this album was the band's current label, Meteor City. A label that's produced some of my favorite stoner/garage rock albums from bands like Solace, Nebula, and Gallery of Mites (to name a few). It's safe to say that Farflung fits in with what Meteor City generally has to offer. There is a level of authenticity to the "retro-ness" found on A Wound In Eternity. The Hawkwind channeling is almost uncanny, yet there's a certain sleazy swagger to the songs that inevitably reminds me of both Turbonegro and QOTSA.
The songs are generally simplistic but the riffs are changed up and often memorable. Opening song "Unborn Plant" and its follow-up "Endless Drifting Wreck" are interchangable to the untrained ear. Yet the spacey guitar interludes and occasional Moog flourishes are enough to peak anyone with a faint interest in Pink Floyd or their peers. "Stella Volo" breaks formula at the four minute mark by introducing acoustic guitars and some bizarre chanting. "IX" begins with some fantastic synth action over some Hendrix-like guitar feedback. The last half of this album is a journey in and of itself.
What also helps the album to remain in my CD player is, despite its spacey tendencies, it's extremely listenable. The album has a great flow. It begins with a bang as the band lays down the meat of what they sound like at full throttle and drift into space as the songs unfold themselves. There's a deliberate ease into psychedelia here and as a die hard Pink Floyd fan, there is so much to appreciate. By the time you get to "Silver Shrooms" you're on a different planet and it's hard to tell if this is even the same band, but you know it is.
It's also worth mentioning that "Silver Shrooms" is barely my favorite song on here (they're all really good). I could even say that if I had eaten a bag of mushrooms on my initial listen, that I probably would have been running through a field of giant silver mushrooms with Rip Taylor on the rings of Saturn. Hopefully this inspires some eventful plans for next weekend, reader.
Whether this album will appeal to metal-heads is difficult to say. If you like your stoner rock with more protein, such as High On Fire or Down, then this may not be for you. On the same token, if you like early Monster Magnet or Kyuss then there's no reason you won't like Farflung. I find A Wound In Eternity to be a spirited retro journey in a rather stale time for stoner music (in my humble opinion). That said, I'm very much looking forward to this band's back catalog as I think I've found a new one worth checking out. Well done, gentlemen from Farflung.
