THE GREAT DUCK ENIGMA – The Great Duck Enigma (2023, Digital Self-Released)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Self-Released

Format: Digital, Album, Bandcamp Release

Release Date: 23 May 2023

It seems that Poland keeps on surprising us with its continuously ‘climbing’ Underground Neo-Psych scene… Our new ‘Discovery’ is this Neo-Psych–a-something Trio called The Great Duck Enigma. They are based in Warsaw, Poland and they describe themselves as “a Psychedelic Fusion band from Warsaw, come and gaze upon the unraveling of the mysteries beyond”…

Here’s the lineup of the band:
Jeremie Goubault / Vocals, Guitar
Rafał Świsłocki / Keys, Bass, Vocals
Mateusz Krośnicki / Drums, Rattles, Guitar, Vocals, Mix

Guest musicians:
Weronika Pieczewska / Violin in “Totalitaria“
Sara Cicherska / Watery Vocals in “The Ritual“
Hubert Sobiecki / Fiery Tenor Saxophone in “The Ritual” and “I Wanna Live“
Bolesław Ren Rygiel / Airy Kaval in “The Ritual“
Jakub Cukier Podskarbi / Contrabowlin and rebel yell in “V.I.P“

“The Great Duck Enigma” is their self-titled debut album, self-released by the band via Bandcamp. The album consists of 9 tracks with a total duration of 49:27min! The album kicks off with the short “Introduction – Seed”, a 40-second intro with violin and a classical sound. “Totalitaria” is a sad pop-psych tune, becoming epical (in a way), there’s a fantastic use of violin and a great intriguing instrumentation, with really interesting lyrics, it’s a “CRY” for our fucked-up World… “When I’ll Be Gone” is a kind of a thrifty tune, a naked song, with no music at all, a kind of an A-Capella song that acts as a Prayer (or something). The next one is called “Blues” and as the title implies, this is a BLUES track, a slow piece of Bluesy guitar improvisations under a deep Psych and smokey background, transforming into an addictive Psych-Blues track full of weirdness, singing, shouting, it feels more like acting in a theater than performing a song… And suddenly we stepped into the next track “The Ritual: Transition”, a faster rhythmic Pop-Psych tune with a fantastic trippy Moroccan-like middle section, a rather interesting track that mixes with the next one “The Ritual: Banishment And Conjuration Of The Elements And Other Shit” which it happens to be my highlight of the album (out of three in total), the band creates a deeply Dark-Psych environment, becoming pompous, becoming brutal, with a lot of strange happenings at the background, the Sax adds Beefheartesque atmos, slowly moving into a psychedelically trippy n’ creepy soundscape that flirts with eerie Acid Folk/Rock, resulting a PSYCH adventurous TRIP! “Witch Lovin’ Man” is another highlight here, it starts with a bluesy acoustic guitar way sooner to transformed into a hot Prog Blues-Rock track, once more a lot is happening inside with multiple rhythm changes, a track that tries to take us back into the 17^th century and places like Lugarramurdi or Salem… “Can You Feel It” is a mid-tempo Pop-Psych ballad with dreamy acoustic-like scenery that flirts with Prog… Eventually, the album comes to a closure with “I Wanna Live” (my 3^rd highlight), a groovy funk-a-delic track with a crazy rhythm that changes from slow to fast and vice versa, and a voodoo-like psych-prog mind-bending middle section… The Great Duck Enigma delivered a very intriguing trippy album, and of course, I’m longing for their next moves… You see, I must admit that I didn’t manage to solve that Duck Enigma… Who knows, maybe I’d be lucky next time… Dig it! TimeLord Michalis

Tracklist

Links

Listen / Buy through THE GREAT DUCK ENIGMA Bandcamp

Visit THE GREAT DUCK ENIGMA Facebook