Northern Songs. The Asteroid No.4

With a band name like The Asteroid No.4 I expect to hear psychedelia and that is what I get on Northern Songs. Now Northern Songs is not just any name. Look underneath the title of most songs released by The Beatles and you will read Northern Songs, the name of the band's music publishing company. As The Beatles is a universe of its own, there's no sense to compare here. The Asteroid No.4 stands its own ground though.

The Asteroid No.4 has featured in two of the single round ups I did this summer. My conclusion following 'Swiss Mountain Myth', "anyone looking for a good dose of psych does not have to look any further", can easily be repeated. On its tenth album the San Francisco based band takes its listeners through a magical mystery tour, bringing all sorts of psych history into the present. What is missing is San Francisco's greatest, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead.

The band obviously loves the sound of The Byrds. In the title song a Rickenbacker and Jim (Roger) McGuinn's singing is all over the song. The 60s pop element is so high here. If released then, comments at the time may well have been that the song is a too obvious copy, 54 years down the line 'Northern Song' is very welcome. It is not just nostalgic pleasure, it is good, including the wavy harmonies. The mix between solid pop and ethereal psychedelia just exactly right.

Promo photo: Kari Deveraux

What is kind of brave, is that the track selection on Northern Songs is the other way around as I would have made it. The more heavy tracks, in the sense of less easily accessible, come first and the more 60s pop laden songs with psychedelic under and over tones come in from the middle part of the album.

Yes, there are lines with modern psych bands, of course, The Black Angels, Dutch band PAUW (where did they go?) and many others. For some more recent bands I started noticing a little psych fatigue. Not so for The Asteroid No.4. So does it have to do with the quality of the songs on offer? It seems so because I'm totally happy listening to Northern Songs. The album is varied, has some great tracks on it and yes, if I wanted to I could go totally out of my mind. Why should I when the music is this good? No need to run from anything here. Northern Songs is a great psych album. So let me repeat once more: If you're looking for a psych album, you can stop looking. I've found it for you.

Wo.

You can Listen to and order Northern Songs here:

https://theasteroidno4.bandcamp.com/album/northern-songs-2

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g