Pre-Order: Howlin Rain – Watermelon [LP]

In celebration of 20 years riding the bus to never-ever land,Howlin RaindeliversWatermelon, a glittering gift ofdeep-cut cover tunesdrawn from a late-night FM transmission that never was, evoking an era when LPs, waterbeds, and bongs sat side-by-side in headshops strewn across the coasts and flyover states.Watermelon sums up band founder Ethan Miller’s long, strange trip from the blown-out Blue Cheer nebula ofComets On Fire, to Howlin Rain’s ongoing love letter to ’70’s rock radio (and their stint with Rick Rubin’s American imprint), then a stopover in the acid-folk lily fields ofHeron Oblivionbefore launching into the ecstatic silver currents of interstellar space withThe Odyssey CultandOrcutt Shelley Miller.WithWatermelon, Miller has reinvigorated Howlin Rain’s ever-changing roster once again, with only drummer Justin Smith from the last couple of lineups, adding Jonny Niemann (keys), Jason Soda (guitar and vocals), Kyre Wilcox (bass and vocals), and notable guestsChris Robinson (The Black Crowes),Ty Segall, andDavid Nance. The new band doesn’t quite return to the manicured hedges ofThe Russian Wilds, despite it’s exploration of some of those AOR tropes, but casts the lessons Ethan learned in the major-label wilderness into a mirror of the band’s more modest, stripped-down roots, refracted back through the tighter psych moves of it’s more recentSilver Currentreleases.Featuring tracks byMountain, Judee Sill, Sugluk, Moby Grape, Fairport Convention, Todd Rundgren, Scott Walker, Tim Hardin, andMountain Bus(who supplies Rosali, the album’s fitting closer, a greatDead-infusedjam leading into the cosmic thicket). Silver Paper, the lead-off single, takesMountain’s earnest, ripped and ragged soul vocal (aptly supplied by the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson) and fretboard pyrotechnics into a (much) higher key.30th Century Man injects the Scott Walker chestnut with exploding fuzz solos and lost, late-night vox (courtesy of Ty Segall, the perfect foil for Walker’s velvet croon). Fall Away, a track from the seminalNative North Americacomp on Light in the Attic, swaps the inimitable First Nations backbeat withCrazy Horsechug and blasting fuzz.For those who’ve lost Howlin Rain’s trail over the years, or hopped off in the years followingThe Russian Wilds, this LP represents a hard reset, a stunning infusion of psychedelic vigor, a glorious reinvention of a band that’s no stranger to new beginnings. Each track ofWatermelonopens a new box of surprises, so in fear of killing them with words, I’ll keep them undescribed – all it takes to unlock them is a simple needle drop

Tracklist:

1. Side A
2. Silver Paper
3. Jesus Was A Cross Maker
4. Fall Away
5. I Am Not Willing
6. Possibly Parsons Green
7. Side B
8. Black Maria
9. 30 Century Man
10. If I Were A Carpenter
11. Rosali

UPC: 769152435718
Label: Silver Current
Release Date: 11.13.26
Format: Vinyl