Ever since first being introduced to Brian Jonestown Massacre by the numerous skateboarding videos that featured their music, I’ve been a fan. When I first heard their music, I was listening to their album, “Strung Out In Heaven”. More specifically, “Going to Hell” and “Wasting Away” were huge influences on my musical taste. Later, when “Bravery Repetition and Noise” was released and then “Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request”, my thoughts on Brian Jonestown Massacre improved further. I regarded them as one of music’s greatest gifts. After listening to, “The Brian Jonestown Massacre” my opinion of them is not diminished but rather reignited as a few years have passed since my youth. It’s interesting that music often takes a full circle with its listeners, who often revisit songs and albums to try to grasp a similar feeling they once had. It’s very rare that an artist can recreate that feeling, so for me this album is quite special, as I had lost traction with Brian Jonestown Massacre in my recent years. Funnily enough, I heard the album before this, “Something Else”, in a skate video. So, when I noticed they had a release from 2019, I felt compelled to write a review.

Now diving into the bulk of the album, “The Brian Jonestown Massacre” is the bands 17th album, demonstrating the quite prolific nature of the artist. I’m not sure what caused me to fall off track as a listener, but diving back into this album has proved worthwhile, and I think many new listeners could easily be attracted to the shoegaze-y sounds that are presented. With heavy acoustic guitar reliance, rock n roll drums, and psychedelic rock sounds, this album feels very core to the style of front man Anton Newcombe. The songs seem to drift into each other and remind me of spring or summer in their fleeting nature. Sometimes when listening to albums I get bored because the songs seem to lack something, but this was not the case here. I was impressed throughout the album, from top to bottom. Perhaps Newcombe is returning to the core of his sounds from 20 years prior, but more realistically he was able to demonstrate his musical prowess once again with the depth yet familiarity with this new release.

Although I would recommend a full album listen, I know how busy people can get, so I will just be recommending 3 songs as listed below.

Recommended Listens: 2, 4, & 6