Sometimes things align just right. For New Zealand rockers The Datsuns it was all four members being in the same city, the gods of classic rock and roll looking down on them favourably as they followed their lead in the songwriting, and allowing their influences – in this case 1970s cult film super-villains and 1970s French comic Kris Kool created by cult psychedelic artist Caza (Philippe Cazaumayou), to seep through into their work.
The result of this allignment is a new album Deep Sleep, out on October 6th via Hellsquad Records, a 34 minute blast of sonic aggression all wrapped up in the cloak of heavy rock. Aukland was the place they met, and over the course of ten days at Roundhead Studios last summer they wrote and recorded the whole thing. As singer / bassist Dolf de Borst puts it “We’re not fucking around. We’re all conscious of the fact that we don’t live close to each other and we’re getting older and people have families, so, if we’re together, we’re going to make records.”
In the first track on the album, Caught in the Silver, those classic rock influences – namely, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult and Bloodrock, are all nodded to by the band. It opens with this insistent, biting bassline over which there’s this slightly psychedelic guitar line. de Borsts unmistakable pipes then take control, singing in unison on occasion with these huge riffs. As the track unfurls, so there’s this soaring, bleating, trippy guitar solo. It could have been written at any point since about 1970, but somehow it doesn’t feel retro – it feels new and exciting and essential.
This allignment sounds perfect.
http://www.thedatsuns.com/
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