Short Reviews [PsychoYogi - 2023 - "Brand New Face"]

There has been an expansion in the ranks of PsychoYogi, with Chris Ramsing (guitar, vocals), Justin Casey (drums & percussion), Izzy Stylish (bass) and Toby Nowell (alto & soprano saxophones, trumpet) now joined by Tim Smart (trombone) and Ben Woodbine-Craft (violin). This is their seventh studio album and the fourth for me since I came across them with 2018’s ‘Accident Prone’. Since then I have really enjoyed their releases which are well out in left field, so much so that at times it feels they are playing a different game altogether. It would be easy to say they are heavily influenced by the Canterbury scene, or that Zappa has also had a part to play, while their use of horns has more in common with Art Zoyd than much of the mainstream, but what about Noel Coward and the English theatrical tradition? There is no doubt that also has its part to play. Chris has a control of language and melody which could only be English to the core, and he has surrounded himself with musicians who can flirt with folk and punk as required yet keeping it close to jazz and the result is something which feels far more in common with the Seventies than anything in the modern era, with Peter Hammill stylings also being brought to bear. One never knows what is going to happen next, when a glockenspiel is going to make an important entrance, or the layered harmony vocals are going to be taken to the next level with some Glascock-style bass runs. This is complex and complicated music which some progheads may turn their nose up to as this really is progressing and challenging and not attempting to be yet another clone of what has gone before but instead is broadening the musical horizon of anyone lucky enough to hear it. Does it sound as if 'Sing To God' has had an impact? Yes, it does, and is that ever a bad thing? This may not be for those who want their prog to be middle of the road and actually anything but, yet for the connoisseur there is a great deal here to enjoy.