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Reviews

Turtle Skull — Being Here
(Bandcamp Art As Catharsis, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-10-02

Being Here Cover art

Being Here is the third album from Australian psych band Turtle Skull. In the ranks of modern psychedelic practitioners, I’m reminded a bit of Black Angels, though Turtle Skull favors a somewhat cleaner sound — the mix isn’t drenched in reverb, so everything is more present. With a backing of heavy fuzz guitars, nice vocal harmonies float above the pounding for a sweet effect. The band features Julian Frese (bass), Ally Gradon (vocals, keyboards), Charlie Gradon (vocals, drums), and Dean McLeod (vocals, guitars), and together they make a glorious noise. Heavy riffs are balanced by ethereal keyboards and the vocals. Unlike some psych bands, the keyboards aren’t confined to retro sounds, and on tracks like “Apathy” they provide a nice counterpoint to the guitar with a sound a bit like a warped Vox combo organ. According to the promo materials, the album was recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs, but the sound is quite full, and I would have guessed it was done more conventionally (by today’s standards). There are quite a few places where multiple guitars are heard, so they didn’t make the live sound a fetish, just a starting point. I’ve got to say I’m just in love with this sound — the melodic vocals, mixed male and female, with guitars that are fuzzy but never sound like metal, the variety in moods and tempos from song to song while maintaining a core identity. Turtle Skull is a great new discovery.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Turtle Skull

More info
http://copperfeastrecords.bandcamp.com/album/being-here

 

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