Deep Magic – Lucid Thought

During the 1950s and 60s the thinking of a new generation in the USA was deeply inspired by writers like William Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. This ‘Beat Generation’ as it became known, brought new ideas about drugs, sexuality and expression to the fore. At the same time the new proponents of consciousness expansion such as Timothy Leary, Alan Watts and Aldous Huxley also profoundly influenced this new generation. One that was tired of the backward looking and out dated religious conservatism that permeated every aspect of society at this time.

Against this backdrop of cultural upheaval the recreational use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), encouraged by these writers and thinkers, began to rise rapidly and was quickly linked to concepts such as spiritual enlightenment and social consciousness. Musicians, always on the lookout for new ideas and influences, soon started to make indirect, and later explicit, references to LSD in their songs. Eventually this led many artists to attempt to recreate or replicate the experience of taking LSD into their music. Psychedelic music was born and a whole new drug inspired counter culture was starting to take its first tentative steps.

Deep Magic are clearly aware of their responsibility in respect to this cultural inheritance and have kept the flag flying high with the six mind-bending ‘trips’ available on their latest album Lucid Thought.

The effect of these sweeps, cycles and auras of expressive and scenic guitar vary greatly from person to person, depending on factors such as previous experiences, state of mind and environment, as well as dose strength/volume. Even at a low dose/volume this esoteric mix of exotic strings, spiritual synths and cosmic keyboards produces psychological effects that include an experience of radiant colours, objects and surfaces appearing to ripple or “breathe”, eidetic imagery, and an altered sense of time.

These are beautiful fluid songs that hypnotise the listener with a complex glory, which is beyond conventional mathematics and physics, and refers to a quantity or measurement without bound or end. Surreal key and time signature changes, extended instrumentational emphasis and kaleidoscopic melody mandalas create majestic musical karma.

Crawling sonic patterns overlay walls and other objects, tones begin to morph, a sense that my thoughts are spiralling into themselves, my ego begins to wither…

Lucid Thought will lead to a disintegration or restructuring of your historical personality and creates a mental state that some listeners report allows them to have more choice regarding the nature of their own personality.

- Review by Dean Rocker for Fluid Radio

Available through Stashed Goods

www.preservation.com.au