The Third Mind – The Third Mind 2
Yep Roc / V2 – 2023
Rock, Sixties, Seventies, Psych, Folk
Rated: ****
The first time I heard the new album called The Third Mind 2, I immediately wondered if I had The Third Mind’s first album from 2020 and if I was equally enamored with that one. Which of course immediately shows, I probably didn’t. Which is weird on many fronts. And it’s tempting to therefor state the band grew closer together in the past two years and that the music matured and all that stuff. But we can probably just as easily claim that I wasn’t in the same frame of mind when that first album was released. And we should revisit. Listen to it more closely. Get some notes on paper before attempting to write something about their new album. But then Reek of STOOM stated it was the best album he heard this year. Now, if you know Reek, he claims this more than once per month. But it still means it must be good. So, instead of going back, we moved forward and kept spinning their second album. A super melodious, harmonious and musical album performed by amazing musician that all have been involved with many other great projects and bands. Shall we call The Third Mind a supergroup? This time around Jesse Sykes (acoustic guitar, vocals); Dave Alvin (electric guitar); Victor Krummenacher (bass guitar) (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven); David Immerglück (guitar/harmonium/mellotron) (Counting Crows, Camper Van Beethoven); and Michael Jerome (drums/percussion) (Toadies, Better Than Ezra) are taking a deep cut, trip back into the psychedelic folk/rock sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It gives you six tracks all at least five, eight or ten minutes long, all exhuming alternative rock through every pore and laidback soul of the hippy kind. It’s the marvelous guitar work and strumming that take center stage, although the vocals by Miss Sykes also deserve the spotlight. Which is even more apparent on the only original work on the album called Tall Grass. Shall we call it a cover album? Let’s not, for in the way they delved these obscure tracks out of the great American musical history and re-invented them, makes them entirely The Third Mind. Or as our very own Reek ended his blurb on the Doom Charts Peroration of October 2023: “Atmospheric and dreamy, glossed with a rich coating of captivating vocals and delightful musicianship across the board – MUST HAVE!!” He’s right!
(Written by JK)
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