{"id":79986,"date":"2023-01-31T19:39:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T18:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=79986"},"modified":"2023-01-31T19:39:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T18:39:39","slug":"brian-jonestown-massacre-20th-album-the-future-is-your-past-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2023\/01\/brian-jonestown-massacre-20th-album-the-future-is-your-past-review\/","title":{"rendered":"LIVING COLOUR- Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 20th Album ‘The Future Is Your Past’ Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Emerging from the same post-writer’s block flurry as 2022’s Fire Doesn\u2019t Grow On Trees<\/em><\/strong>, Brian Jonestown Massacre’s 20th album comes with a pack of pencils, so you can colour in the cover yourselves.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It’s a suitably fitting metaphor for the spacey feel of the album, which encourages the listener to engage, fill in the blanks and enjoy the parts where songwriter Anton Newcombe<\/a><\/strong> occasionally goes over the lines.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The band’s only constant member since 1995 debut Methodrone<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>Newcombe presides Mark E Smith<\/strong>-like over an ever-changing roster of collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assisting him on The Future Is Your Past <\/em><\/strong>are Icelandic guitarist Hakon Adalsteinsson<\/strong> (The Third Sound), with Berlin-based Uri Rennert<\/strong> on the drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both leave their mark on the album, which treads familiar BJM territory of shoegaze, fuzzy drone guitars and psychedelia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are signs that a prolific burst of activity, which Newcombe says saw 70 songs tracked in as many days, coincided with an expanding musical horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TRUE COLOURS – You can add your own touch to the album’s cover art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eastern influences abound on opener Do Rainbows Have Ends<\/em><\/strong>, while the The Light Is About To Change\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is a full on glam-rock stomper – like The Sweet <\/strong>jamming with The Fall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All The Feels<\/em><\/strong>‘ is an intriguing slice of Americana and closing track Stuck on Yous<\/em><\/strong> comes across as a stately chamber piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Velvet Underground<\/strong>-influenced single Fudge<\/em> <\/strong>is one of several psych-tinged numbers, along with the warm, pastoral ’60s sounds and backwards guitars of As The Carousel Swings<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever the anglophile, Newcombe goes all John Lennon<\/strong> on Cross Eyed Gods<\/em><\/strong> and a bit Richard Ashcroft <\/strong>on the aptly-titled wig out The Mother of All Fuckers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His studio wizardry – so evident on his Diabolique<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>link-up with Emmanuelle Seigner<\/strong> and The Limi\u00f1anas<\/strong> – is in fine fettle here too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However you can’t help wondering if Newcombe sometimes releases too many records for his own good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of two very decent LPs – in Fire<\/em>… and The Future<\/em>… – BMJ might perhaps have made one truly exceptional album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n