The Third Eye

A new album from psych-rock multi-instrumentalist Trigona (aka Rob Shiels) dropped earlier this month, and the vinyl is available through the always-dependable collaboration of Echodelick (USA), Worst Bassist (EUR), Weird Beard (UK), and We, Here and Now Records (CAN). Isophase is the third album from Trigona, the psych rocker from Queensland that once again proves Australia is the place to be for new psychedelic music.

Rob’s Trigona project features psych-rock recordings featuring lots of fuzz, delay, swirly effects, and that motorik beat all the kids are talking about. Rob knows what the younger generation wants, and I bet if you look up the hashtag #motorik on TikTok, that thing is trending like crazy.

Isophase builds on the dynamism of previous Trigona releases but is a more refined affair. It harnesses the recording and arrangement skills Rob has honed in the studio since his last release, Echo Tide. Spread across six tracks, the instrumentals of Isophase are tight and punchy while still having plenty of space for weird, reversed, and multi-layered guitar and synth. It’s heavier in places than the last Trigona record, blending influences like Neu, Acid Mothers Temple, and Spiritualized.

“Nozomi” is the first track, a song named after a Japanese bullet train and one that rushes forward at lightning speed with a driving bass and background synths. Like the high-speed transportation it’s named after, “Nozomi” has a heightened feeling of movement and speed. Take a psychedelic ride in style with this one. The multi-layered “Just Like Saturn” weaves guitars and bouncing bass with a freaked-out reversed guitar breakdown, another longer track that snakes and worms its way through liminal spaces at over seven minutes.

“Titan’s Gate” is a heavier track, packing a slide-guitar punch with a wah-guitar lead and more slide solo action to boot. Like the first two tracks, the motorik beat is there, too, putting us on a psychedelic international speedway. The album’s heavier theme is continued with “Orbital Way,” featuring a grooved-out, chugging riff that leads to a chaotic backward guitar lead. It’s like Fu Manchu but if those California stoners weren’t as obsessed with fast cars and skateboards and instead got enamored with Acid Test light shows and The Piper At The Gates of Dawn.

A meditative chant starts “Continuum,” a counterpoint to the controlled chaos that follows, saturated in a wah lead guitar and reminiscent of Acid Mothers Temple. The freakout, swirling tones, and colors ping-pong across the stereo field—and maybe they boomerang across the galaxy, too—to infinity and beyond. Buzz Lightyear is all grown up; out of those Disney movies, he’s taking shrooms while traveling the solar system with his new buds.

Isophase ends with “Redshift,” the longest song at nine-plus minutes. It’s a bliss-out of multi-tracked guitar and choppy, droning guitar layers that offer a delectable sonic experience to get lost in. The bass and drums hold the song together, with background mellotron rounding out the mix. “Redshift” is an excellent closer to an album with many highlights.

Isophase is a terrific psych-krautrock album to add to your listening rotation. It features six great instrumentals that reminded me a bit of another recent Echodelick and collaborator release from Empty House. For whatever reason, I kept getting reminded of Kraftwerk while listening, too. The song “Trans-Europe Express” popped up for me recently, and as I listened to Isophase and its motorik beats, I was reminded of Kraftwerk’s weirdo, multi-media computer music for whatever reason.

Despite the reference to Kraftwerk, Trigona’s Isophase does sound much different, with much more free-flowing psychedelic fluidity and instrumentation. However, Isophase is an excellent album for road trips and driving in general, as each song feels like a road trip through space in itself. If you like Isophase, check out Trigona’s previous work, including the 2022 self-titled LP. Enjoy!

Check out Isophase by Trigona on Bandcamp here.

Support Trigona by finding him on Bandcamp.

Find Echodelick Records on Bandcamp here.

Find Worst Bassist Records on Bandcamp here.

Find Weird Beard Records on Bandcamp here.

Find We, Here, And Now Records on Bandcamp here.

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