The first word we had on this album was in April 2007, shortly after the launch of FSOLDigital, on a YouTube video of footage from the Amorphous Bestival performance, which ended with an advert for a new Amorphous album entitled The Peppermint Tree and Other Seeds, and described as “a collection of previously unreleased tracks from the Psychedelic Archive”. The next update described it as an EP containing versions of the title track with a few bonuses, suggesting something more like the ‘Mello Hippo Disco Show‘ single. By the release of FSOL Digital Mix in 2008, I was still reporting the tracks there as being “B-sides”, the idea of it still being an EP or mini-album still very much the case. A couple of weeks later, it appeared on FSOLDigital by surprise, and turned out to be a full 19 track album with a longer title. A nice surprise, if you’re a fan of the Amorphous sound, at least.
Although presented as an album, it’s actually a collection of tracks from the 1997-2005 Isness and Alice in Ultraland period, many of which have been updated, remixed and completed; effectively something more than a straight-forward From the Archives-style collection (an Amorphic Archives album of untouched unreleased material was promised at the same time, but remains unreleased). In Gaz’s words, it “originally started out as an Amorphous Androgynous archive album. However, we found that there was still a really good journey to the tracks and as a lot of the multitracks were still available we decided to polish some things up a bit.” Given that at least half of Alice itself was born out of material begun during the Isness sessions, it’s easy to consider it as valid an album, although Gaz has since relegated it to archive status, describing Listening Beyond the Head Chakra as the official third Amorphous album. Still, the FSOLDigital era is one of unconventional releases, and this is perfectly at home with that. The number of tracks is certainly more in line with the bulk of 2007’s output.
Musically, there are relatively few surprises on the album. Perhaps the most unexpected element is that it’s the band’s first release since 1997 to play gaplessly start to finish, with environments and crossfades present between every track. Given that it was the move to the Amorphous sound that seemed to do away with this approach, it’s odd, if not perversely fitting, that it’s an Amorphous album that would bring the style back. Not all of the environments are typically atmospheric things, with studio chatter and jamming used as links in the second half. Indeed, this is indicative of the biggest change in the album: a significant step towards more of a rock band feel. Undoubtedly inspired by the live shows in 2005 and 2006, the incarnation of Amorphous here feels less electronic than ever, with only a couple of the short environment tracks in the first half really sounding like FSOL were involved. This means the more ambient and classical leaning side of Amorphous – ‘The Wicker Doll‘, ‘Rural Green‘, ‘Her Tongue is Like a Jellyfish‘ – is entirely absent; perhaps not surprising, with FSOL suddenly a going concern once again. Otherwise, however, the music is what one would expect: a mixture of psychedelic pop songs, funk-tinged instrumental jam tracks, acoustic ballads and short guitar based instrumentals. There’s no prog epic equivalent of ‘The Galaxial Pharmaceutical‘ or ‘The World is Full of Plankton‘, although ‘I Have Loved You Into Obvlision’, with its Max Richter orchestration, fills the gap pretty well. The ratio of songs : instrumentals is pretty much the same as the previous two albums, with a third of the album vocal-led. There are a number of very familiar moments that betray its origins as an archive collection: ‘The Peppermint Tree’ was first heard on the ‘Psychedelic Manifesto’ in 2001 and elements of the song were used in ‘Guru Song‘; ‘Drifter’ appeared as both a title and an audio clip on the 2001 version of the official website; ‘Marylebone Road’ was also a title on the official site, and musically shares a brass section with ‘Goodbye Sky‘; ‘Opus of the Black Sun’ is based on ‘The Witchfinder‘; ‘Yantra’ is a remix of ‘The Mello Hippo Disco Show‘; and ‘Mr. Sponge’s Groovy Oscillations’ is an alternate version of ‘Divinity‘. The latter two of those might well have been developed during the production of their respective singles. All of this means it lacks its own identity at times. There is another issue which seems to be a sticking point with quite a few fans: the sound quality. A number of tracks feature unusually muddy mixes, which I’ve even seen described as sounding amateurish at times. Despite the project’s scope, there’s always been a touch of lo-fi to Amorphous, due to the DIY approach, the earliest sessions being entirely new ways of recording, and the protracted recording sessions (the contrast in the lead vocal and electric guitar of ‘High and Dry‘ with the richness of the rest of the song being a great example), but there are definitely moments in the second half of The Peppermint Tree where the lo-fi becomes a little too much. I still kind of prefer it to Alice in Ultraland, because of its sprawling ‘anything goes’ approach – which is what I want from psychedelia – but, being as objective as is possible, it’s a much scrappier, less professional sounding album, and the combination of relatively few electronic moments and the lo-fi elements make this the furthest from FSOL that Amorphous has travelled to date.
After its initial release, a CD was announced, and followed four months later, minus the digital bonus track ‘An Absurd Consequence of Living in Absurd Times’ and with entirely new artwork. I have a fondness for the simplicity of the original digital cover, while the CD version – and all later digital editions – has a more traditionally ‘psychedelic’ design which is very pleasing, except for the somewhat garish font, bent in a rather dated WordArt style. This is taken to an extreme on the disc itself – the text not even being symmetrical – and in the booklet, with its clashing fonts and pixelated graphics. There is a nice montage of studio and live photographs of the band and its various members on the third page. And, of course, on page five, the immortal “Other AA albums available at fsoldigital.com” advert, featuring three unreleased records. At least when Environments was included in the Lifeforms sleeve there were concrete plans to release it; here, The New Love Poetry, 2012 and Wobbly Oozescapes all have titles and covers, but will almost certainly never be released (the gap between Lifeforms and Environments is now shorter than the gap between The Peppermint Tree and the writing of this blog, and there’s not even a hint of them ever coming along). Brian has confirmed to me that they do represent recorded material, giving an idea of just how much unreleased Amorphous tracks there are out there, but I’d honestly be surprised if any of these ever sees the light of day. The only other notable aspects of the artwork are the lack of lyrics for ‘Rocket Fuel’, and the catalogue number: FSOLD005, the first FSOLDigital release not to be part of the Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ range, albeit still manufactured and marketed by Passion. There’s also a reference to it being “A FREEdimensional Recording” with the catalogue number FSOLFreeD005. Sigh. Credits are largely as normal, although artwork is here accredited to The Orgone Accumulator rather than Amorphic Arts. This is very clearly Gaz, and an Orgone Accumulator MySpace was online briefly, including ‘In Fear of the Electromagnetic Machine (Part 1)’ on its music player. There are no engineer credits, meaning Yage is absent, although Stone Freshwaters is listed as co-producer. This is the first release to mention 9 Leylines West, Brian’s studio in Somerset, as well as Gaz’s home studio in France.
Despite a promo CDr being issued, the album received no reviews and no known radio play. The band promoted the release with a YouTube video of clips from various songs. The digital edition no longer features ‘An Absurd Consequence of Living in Absurd Times’.
As with all Amorphous releases, musician credits will be listed on individual track pages only.
Release date: 19th February 2008 (download), 14th July 2008 (CD).
Tracklists
CD (FSOLD005 | FSOLFreeD005)
1. The Peppermint Tree
2. Given That We’ve Given
3. I Have Loved You Into Oblivion
4. Light Beyond Sound
5. In Fear of the Electromagnetic Machine (Part 1)
6. Somewhere at the Edge of Nowhere
7. Riders (On the Circadian Rhythm)
8. Carousel
9. Yantra
10. Opus of the Black Sun
11. Marylebone Road
12. Tiny Space Birds
13. Drifter
14. Rocket Fuel
15. Listen Little Man
16. Man is a Virus in Shoes
17. Mr. Sponge’s Groovy Oscillation
18. It’s a Sunshine Day (Yeah! Yeah!)
Download
1. The Peppermint Tree
2. Given That We’ve Given
3. I Have Loved You Into Oblivion
4. Light Beyond Sound
5. In Fear of the Electromagnetic Machine (Part 1)
6. Somewhere at the Edge of Nowhere
7. Riders (On the Circadian Rhythm)
8. Carousel
9. Yantra
10. Opus of the Black Sun
11. Marylebone Road
12. Tiny Space Birds
13. Drifter
14. Rocket Fuel
15. Listen Little Man
16. Man is a Virus in Shoes
17. Mr. Sponge’s Groovy Oscillation
18. It’s a Sunshine Day (Yeah! Yeah!)
19. An Absurd Consequence of Living in Absurd Times
Credits
All tracks written by The Amorphous Androgynous.
All titles written by Cobain/Dougans.
‘The Peppermint Tree’ written by Cobain / Dougans / D. Richter.
‘I Have Loved You Into Oblivion’ written by Cobain / Dougans / M. Richter.
‘Opus of the Black Sun’ written by Cobain / Dougans / G. Lucas.
‘Marylebone Road’ and ‘Mr. Sponge’s Groovy Oscillations’ written by Cobain / Dougans / M. Rowe.
Produced by The Future Sound of London and Stone Freshwaters at The Galaxial Pharmaceutical, 9 Leylines West, St. Michaels Church and Les Feuilles Tombant (Limousin).
Artwork by The Orgone Accumulator, taken from the film Alice in Ultraland.
Tree photography Alan Dougans.
Additional photography Dianne Harris – B. Dog – Christine Lala – Matt Booy.
Published by FutureSong.
Fractional Difference 