You could speculate that it’s something in the water up there, but surely not? Everyone in Oxford would then insist on walking sideways in odd time signatures, frowning and taking a frantic unmapped stroll around the suburbs at midnight in order to just get round the corner before midday. No, but there’s no denying the influence of that town’s most notable musical sons on Psychid. But like geographical neighbours The Young Knives are a rowdy step along from Supergrass’ solid pop heritage, Psychid are a pace back from Radiohead’s. They’ve got the formula, only without the artistic paranoia, incessant ambition and dodgy eye optional extras. It’s the basic package, but one they do make reasonable good use of.
The harsh rhythmic fallout of the ‘Talk Show Host’ and ‘Airbag’ end of Radiohead’s canon provides some kind of diesel under the fragile casing of much of this album. ‘Wires Ripped Out’ for all its lush vocal wandering and atmospheric dreamscapes has a clenched fist of a bassline working its way through the backdrop before being joined in its raised flailing by a sharp, precise beat. That track is like they’re almost learning to fly at night, but can get no higher than the hedgerows before thumping back down to earth. That will improve as we go on, but is a problem that blights them till the end.
After some pretty unimpressive floating they do really soar 4 minutes into next track ‘Moonshine’, showing what they and their choirboy-led cosmic relaxant rock are really made of. They drift back down elegantly at the end too. And aside from an oddly frightening departure into Depeche Mode, Beck and David Bowie crossbreed territory on ‘Digging For Victory’ that’s what they continue to aim for throughout, occasionally really achieving it. The relatively invigorating and breezy ‘Jezabel’ is case in point and ‘Field Day’ really goes for it with some wibbly psychedelia, until you realise it’s a little close to ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ for comfort. There’s something a little Longview about much on offer, but you can rest assured that it’s really not that dull.