White Heaven – Out (1991)
Not many albums dare to open with a track so super-charged with raw “spunk” like “Blind Promise” (sonically speaking). It’s big and loud and beautiful. Wait… we can do better than that lame description- dismissing the album as merely “loud” or “beautiful” would be to miss its essence of depth and power.
So let us try again.
Not many albums dare to open with a track so super-charged with raw “spunk” like Blind Promise (2018). Roaring at full flame, the sound is vengeful and righteous. When music gets this good, we are no longer talking about modern influences of a mere recording studio. The performance becomes a tribal ritual where player (and listeners) are transformed. The musicians become conduits, playing before sacrificial bonfires of ancient times, with the night sky full of smoke, heat and fire. Bravely imbued with a spirit that has fueled all sound that is pure and innocent.
By the time the opening track is finished, you feel as if you are both the victim of a violent assault and baptized in sacred waters: torn, bloody and satisfied. White Heaven from Tokyo crafted a rarified and wonderful beast with its debut album, Out in 1991. They took the guitar rock lessons of the MC5, Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth as a starting point. Fair enough- it’s creative, smart and brutal, cutting directly to the core of the raw psychedelic tones that outline the music. The band is saturating their sound with reverb and distortion while maintaining an impressive range of human connections directly at the forefront of the music. A warm blanket of sound that builds layer after layer of tone and texture.
This is the musical meeting place of body and mind. Rich with color and complexity but connecting with the listener on the most human and fragile level. White Heaven never forgets to bring the audience along as they dive deeper and deeper into dangerous psychedelic waters. The depth of their plunge is impressive.
“Fallin’ Stars End” is an example of the stunning lethargic vocal expression that permeates the record. Colors fade and the atmosphere grows stranger and immediate. Harmonic overtones of drone seem to buzz throughout the environment. The soft and sparse vocal performance is sensitive, even caring. Yet despite its sincerity there is an unsettling paranoia creeping around the edges. It’s beautiful and off-putting.
Out manages the near impossible task of fusing a format of classic-rock experimentalism with the most avant-garde, droney and multidimensional aspects of punk, creating an overall sound that is heavy, hypnotic and trance-inducing. It’s tempting to call this atmosphere “minimalist” because of the sparseness between the instruments. But the environment of this album is actually very full. An ambient- noise lingers around the background of the entire recording, filling in the gaps left in the music with a beautiful, cinematic uncertainty and mystery.
by Shawn Ciavattone
(White Heaven is a psychedelic rock group formed in Tokyo by You Ishihara in 1985. The group split up in 1997)
This is an explosive combo, Shawn.
There’s so much going on… I can hear the experimental guitars of Sonic Youth (pre-“Daydream Nation”), the country and surf influences, a kind of neo-psychedelia. Anyway, another interesting album. A brilliant wall of noise coming from another side of the world, thank you!
This is really a great album. It’s really became an absolute favorite of mine since I found it. It’s a total ear worm. Every time I listen to it another layer is revealed. Another example of seemingly simple music that really has depth and emotion. Glad you like it.
Underrated. They sound like Pink Floyd, just better.
Give the whole album a listen. Lots of aggression on this masterpiece Thank you for the comment
Shawn,
I listened to the sound clip at the end of your review and I can hear country, psychedelic, and surf. I’m diggin’ the dazed guitar–reminds me of David Roback’s guitar in Mazzy Star around the same time (early 1990s). As you’ve described–atmospheric and hypnotic.
There’s a lot laying just under the surface of this album. Sounds and thoughts that aren’t apparent immediately. All simmering just under the surface. This is a record that gets better and better with every listen.
One of the best psychedelic rock albums ever recorded.
It’s could very well be true. Thank you for your comment
I’m on my second spin, incredible sounds from Japan! Thanks for this gem!
Enjoy this great record. We don’t get music this authentic and original very often.