The Altered Hours – Sweet Jelly Roll

Ireland has never been a country revered for it's production of psychedelic rock bands, but over the last number of years a few have emerged from Dublin, most notably The Urges and Cheap Freaks with their garage-infused distillation.  Cork has also produced a psychedelic concoction of its own in the form of The Altered Hours, a band set to release their latest EP Sweet Jelly Roll.  The record displays a diversity of sound and a band honing their own brand of South-West psychedelia.  Each song has its own distinct character, yet they all sit well together and further enhance the bands psych aesthetic.

On Sweet Jelly Roll they channel the spirit of 90’s twee noise/pop icons Black Tambourine, only with less feedback.  High-pitched guitar lines that build are juxtaposed with the delicate hushed vocals of Elaine Howley, whilst the rhythm section compliments this in steadfast fashion.  This is in stark contrast to a song like Flowers Die from 2011’s Downstream and showcases the versatility of the band. 

Track 2, Smoke Your Eyes, recalls the folk-blues occasionally heard on The Raconteur’s albums; this may be down to beefier sounding guitars and drums accompanied by smooth overlapping male/female vocals that contrast nicely.  While, Everyone Is Inside makes use of nice interplay between guitars over a propulsive, stuttering drumbeat.  It is the darkest song on the record, in which the singer’s dark vocal tones could easily be mistaken for Ian Curtis.  His performance makes him sound like a man on the edge, swinging from tuneful despair to exasperated bark as he demands: “Show me how/ Tell me why/ Everyone is inside?!”

Psych-pop is probably the most appropriate tagline for Altered Hours, on occasion bursts of psychedelic noise is allowed to rear its warped head, but song craft is never neglected in the process.  Shared vocal responsibilities adds depth to the record and would owe itself well to a full-length, which may well be in the pipeline.

-          Sweet Jelly Roll is released April 29 by A Recordings on 10” vinyl and digital format.

Another song worth searching out from the band on youtube - Instrumental B-side Garden of Sonic Children from Downstream – it’s a good example of the trippier psychedelic side of the band, and well worth a listen.

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By Garrett Hargan