Corasandel: Song For The Sun Queen
Streaming | DL
Out now
Since around 2018, Corasandel have been creating psychedelic ambient recordings with the earthiness of the rural Lincolnshire of its origins.
The band’s lysergic sonic soup relies on zen-like distorted vocals, shoegaze-inspired guitars, floaty synths, a robust rhythm section, and a fluid undercurrent of improvisation. Song For The Sun Queen has similar highlights but also treads down uncharted paths for Corasandel.
The track’s intro makes the baggy shuffle of The Stone Roses or The Charlatans seem psychedelic, primordial, and celestial – a huge feat in itself, as well as fitting with its core theme of silver linings amid inclement weather. Twanging nylon guitars, which retain the acid-folk of its original solo version, are a perfect transition to an even looser section. From here, when the skeleton of Sun Queen was taken by guitarist Mark Merrifield to the rest of the band to be fleshed out, their feverish jam picks up whiffs of Swedish psych: fuzz-toned, led by breakbeat drum machines, and fulfilling an ethereal energy maintained by a motorik chug. Although the entirety of this woozy bliss and genre dynamism is succinctly squeezed into four mere minutes, a radically longer version seems even more tantalising.
Overall, though, this ritualistic wonder threads together John Fahey’s percussive guitar, an English-scented version of the funky psych-folk of Goat, and My Bloody Valentine’s technicolour discordance, with majesty and focus.
As well as soundtracking an independent film, Song For The Sun Queen is the first track to be released from the band’s forthcoming EP – both of which will be released in 2025.
Corasandel are on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bandcamp.
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Words by James Kilkenny. Read more of his Louder Than War articles here.
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