Drøye 14 år etter at Stephen McBean & Co pangdebuterte med sitt selvtitulerte album, er de klare med sitt femte album, det første siden «IV» fra 2016. På listen over bidragsytere finner vi blant andre Kliph Scurlock (The Flaming Lips) og Kid Millions (Oneida). Denne gangen er de psykedeliske elementene tonet kraftig ned, og vi sitter igjen med et rent og tvers gjennom solid rockealbum.

Main bandman Stephen McBean bryter ned låtene slik:

Future Shade - The riff travelled around the world then hit the bong with a chorus a year and a half later. A last attempt at double frosting produced a chorus on chorus death match. Anxiety is the new heavy metal.

Horns Arising - sometimes a riff gets stranded on a deserted island. Sinoia Caves took a cruise with a nylon string, Vocoder and the Knight Rider boxset.

Closer To The Edge - prequel or sequel? Playing with danger can sometimes land you in a hot tub with Rick Wakeman.

High Rise - Pawn shop Korg drum machine, Loop on the mind and a journey on the Budapest subway.

Pretty Little Lazies - searching for Pretty Things while chasing Brian May guitar tones with Nicko McBrain.

Boogie Lover - slaying hearts with riffs over poetry.

Licensed To Drive - Neu metal cut and paste. Hit the toms for 10 bars.

FD 72 - half a song from 2005 cut up with experiments to write something really bad while shopping for dollars store Bowie records.




Bandet deler musikkvideo til singelen «Licensed to Drive» fra albumet i dag. Videoen følger opp de tidligere utgitte singlene «Boogie Lover» og «Future Shade». Regissør Zev Deans omtaler videoen slik:

“Licensed to Drive’ is a deep dive into the soul of a late 1970s living room, an exploration of the deep psychedelic fantasy at the core of the birth of the video game.”