With 2019's
Blessed Is the Boogie
, Western Australia's
Datura4
brought blues-rock keyboardist
Bob Patient
(
Dave Hole
,
DM3
) to replace departing guitarist
Greg Hitchcock
. Despite its title, that record, while not remotely subdued, was still less raucous than its two predecessors as the band integrated
Patient
into their sound.
West Coast Highway Cosmic
is titled for the 242-kilometer stretch of two-lane blacktop that runs along the southwest coast of Western Australia and bridges the recording studios
has utilized since recording
Demon Blues
back in 2015. In these ten new songs, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter
Dom Mariani
has thoroughly adapted to the wealth of dynamic, textural, and sonic possibilities
adds to his band's sound. That now-missing second guitar isn't remotely missed.
The opening title track commences with a near-Gothic church organ and high-droning analog synth before
Mariani
adds his slide guitar just before the rhythm section -- bassist
Stu Loasby
and drummer
Warren Hall
-- enters with a thud. As the track kicks into gear, its riff recalls the
Radio Birdman
of
Living Eyes
(though as a singer,
is no
Rob Younger
). The organ sound comes right out of
Deep Purple
's "Hush" at a frenetic pace. Single "Mother Medusa" is a 4/4 psych boogie that marries vintage
Status Quo
to
Blue Cheer
with better production.
dubs his guitar, adding a twinned lead to the band's crunchy plodding burn. "You're the Only One," is a spooky, trippy blues introduced by slide guitars both acoustic and electric accompanied by a heavily reverbed kick drum. The layered echo on
's voice creates its own drone as guest harmonicist
Howie Smallman
wails high and lonesome in the foreground (his soulful playing comes right out of the
Junior Wells
fakebook). "You Be the Fool" borrows
Led Zeppelin
's "Heartbreaker" riff, inverts it and sets up a slow, stoned, distorted choogle, while "Get Out," with its pumping upright piano, is smash- and-grab guttersnipe rock that would be right at home on
the Stooges
'
Raw Power
. The set's biggest surprise is its final cut, "Evil People, Pt. 1." Though under six minutes it feels like a jam track with serpentine organ, throbbing bass, and martial tom-toms overlaid with distorted guitars in a three-chord vamp that creates a hypnotic, head-wagging pulse as
sings with malevolence at the heart of the mix. His six-string duels with
's Hammond B-3 for dominance as the music melts together in a punishing swirl that brings
to an overloaded boil of blasted psych blues. This aptly titled set is perfect for driving fast on long, lonely stretches of highway with the windows down and the wide-open night for company. ~ Thom Jurek