Syd Arthur, Weller opening act.

Weller opening act in Melkweg. 

Syd Arthur, a quartet of Canterbury-based devotees of sound immersed in the simple pleasures of songwriting, performance and exploratory musical interplay. Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they have patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves, using an innovative hybrid of analogue and digital techniques. Naturally, in 2009, Wicker Studios, their own studio space was created, followed by their record label, Dawn Chorus Recording Company. Syd Arthur may revel in the music of decades long past but, as psychedelic rock goes, they match the hallucinogenic sounds of modern contemporaries like Wolf People, Black Mountain, Tame Impala – with imaginative, whimsically sweet, melodies.

When the band released early tracks in 2010 (on their Moving World EP) they were swiftly picked up by The Guardian and included in their Band of The Day feature. Here, on their debut album proper, they seamlessly mix bucolic, retro reveries, devastating blasts of precision controlled riffing, sweeping folk, fleet-fingered mandolin work and a musical vocabulary that’s as fluently conversant with world music as it is the time signature twists of Soft Machine. That these influences are successfully integrated into their songs rather than merely grafted on as stylistic affections says a lot about the band’s desire to hone their craft. And hone it they very much have on debut album On An On. TBC Here.