Methadone Skies – Retrofuture Caveman

Release date: 07 May 2021
Label: Self-released
 

Intro

Methadone Skies takes two parts doom, one part psychedelia, ties them together and wraps it up in a post-rock package. Their songwriting methods are enigmatic and fascinating. Songs can be as short as three minutes or edge out over the fifteen-minute mark. They tell entire sagas with a clear and urgent guitar, an absolutely filthy bass, and softly rolling drums. Moments of almost tender reflection can start up abruptly and then hauntingly linger. Most tracks feel light-hearted and have somewhat unpredictable beat changes, foregoing the gloominess of doom and the story-like progression of post-rock. In later albums, they drift further into droning melancholia, losing their edge but gaining a wizened wistfulness that still remains playful.

Between albums, Methadone Skies have also toured, sharing the stage with influences such as Motorpsycho, Toner Low, and Yawning Man. Beyond this, they have also organized Haywire Festival, which has run for three years in their hometown of Timisoara, Romania. This kind of work is impressive on its own, and even better knowing that they release spectacular albums one after the other. 2019 saw Different Layers of Fear and 2020 brought Enter the Void. Now, in 2021, Methadone Skies have offered another sure win with Retrofuture Caveman.

The Album

Opening with a shy drum beat, the album starts with its titular track, a collosal feat at just under 18 minutes. Soon, the guitars gingerly step in, adding a winding depth that enhances the drums and creates an arcane sound. This track is airy yet grounded, fanciful yet balanced, and a lovely trip that feels very comfortable. Around halfway, there is a break in the sound with distorted hums as if something otherworldy has distracted the band. It feels as though they will never return, the music a fading memory as hisses and whines take over. Finally, after six minutes of pondering, the music returns, this time methodically droning and deep. This masterpiece closes out on a single faded out note, a lifetime having passed by in just one track.

The next track, Infected by Friendship, is the only single on the album. The guitars here have a harmonious echo and the now-common playfulness Methadone Skies have introduced in earlier albums. Somehow both ancient and advanced beyond comprehension, the music rises and falls like breaths before cascading down. It is almost hard to tell that these are normal guitars and drums with how mystifying the sound here is. This is partly thanks to Stanciu’s mastery of the E-Bow, but the rest is pure supernatural talent.

The midway point of the album is The Enabler, a significantly harder-hitting piece that Retea enhances with primeval percussion. The guitars are both rough-hewn and systematic, the bass keeping a steady tempo underneath. This is the shortest track on the album, but even at five minutes long it feels like it is teasing at something greater. That greater thing is Western Luv ’67, a beast that is slowly awakened by whining guitars and a pounding drum beat. This track feels like many songs in one, stopping and starting and intersecting and creating something new every minute. It has true blink-and-you-miss-it energy and demands your full attention to take in every inch of the hulking monstrosity before you.

When the Sleeper Awakens is the final track of the album and is fittingly named based on the sheer energy of the previous. This track is the culmination of everything so far, psychedelia and post-rock and tints of doom all fighting to be heard. Behind the wall of sound, there is clapping, notes from a keyboard, rumbling, buzzing, and all other cacophonies. When attempting to process all that has happened, there is a great pause for reflection, a whistling under the guitar easing the tension. Then finally, the rumbling fuzz returns, the sleeping beast is placated, and the album makes an abrupt end.

A Final Word

Methadone Skies may come from this world, but they have been given esoteric knowledge from beyond and are able to translate it into melodies. Their music is both from the heavens and from the deepest pits of the earth, and where it meets in the middle there is enlightenment. Retrofuture Caveman may only be five tracks long, but each packs a powerful punch and leaves the listener both satisfied and craving more. Hopefully, another album will come from these masters of sound very soon.

Line up:

• Alexandru Wehry (he/him) – Guitar
• Casian Stanciu (he/him) – Guitar, E-Bow
• Mihai Guta (he/him) – Bass
• Flavius Retea (he/him) – Drums/percussion, keyboards

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