The city of Hull (with it’s prefix of Kingston Upon, to give it it’s proper title) is our isle’s future Capital of Culture. A city that has regenerated it’s reputation through it’s broad cultural landscape, it’s a place famed for it’s Museum Quarter and influence on the country’s poetical history. The city’s rejuvenation has had a effect on it’s inhabitants, and within ‘Oh You’, the latest release by Senile Crocodile, there arguably feels like symbolism to the ever-developing city that they live.
Within four minutes, the four-piece formed of Jonathon Winn (Guitar / Vocals), Liam Turnball (Bass), Jack Uney (Keys) and Carl Macklin (Drums) create a whirlwind of a psychedelic soundscape that leads in with an electric keys-led, kooky refrain that The Kinks would write at their most humorous into a complete wig-out of fuzz-solos, Winn’s reverb-drenched vocal reaching a short-stop, high pitched loop.
There’s a lot to digest within this, as easy as it may go down at first with it’s infectious, distorted licks and Winn’s eccentric, ever-changing delivery. It keeps you on your toes with it’s sharp-change in direction yet retains it’s internal compelling nature. The sudden metamorphosis from 60s pop lines over Tyrannosaurus Rex glam into a prog-driven, almost sinister bridge gives you the idea that the quartet are developing who they are within the track, not over the course of a couple albums.
As much as the track emits qualities rich within decades past, it retains the main philosophy of psychedelia, experimentation and development, that you don’t always find in the current phase of “neo-psych“. The added injection of Big Beat-esque pop makes for an absorbing listen.