CUSTARD FLUX – Einsteinium Delirium (2024, LP/CD Fruits de Mer Records) 

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, 180 gram, (Includes lyric insert, black dust jacket and a reusable plastic bag), Solid Red Vinyl, 100 copies

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, 180 gram, (Includes lyric insert, black dust jacket and a reusable plastic bag, plus an addition of three really cool bonus stickers), Cyan Blue & Red Vinyl, 100 copies

Format: CD, Album, Gatefold Jacket (Reusable plastic bag included.The first 100 orders placed include a bonus Be My Hero sticker), 200 copies

Release Date: 7 July 2024

My beloved friend Gregory Curvey (a multitasked person and talented musician for over 35 years) and his Custard Flux vehicle are back after 2022’s “Phosphorus” album, with an amazing LP album, wittily called “Einsteinium Delirium”, a different album, one of unique majesticness and brilliance, but let’s have Greg explain a bit further…

“This album is a little different than our first four albums. It’s no holds barred electric! The songs blend into each other on both sides of the LP to create one nuclear based relativity, with a conceptual narrative of our historical atomic madness in variable time signatures, rests and pieces. On top of that, our whole rhythm section is a Detroit gang. Let’s rock!

Einsteinium is a highly unstable element that was discovered in the debris after the first hydrogen bomb explosion. Using it in the title eventually compelled me to research and write about characters and events relating to atomic bombs, a thoroughly depressing subject. The infamous key scientist involved in developing the first atom bomb, had deep spiritual interests and in some interviews had made references to the Bhagavad Gita, which I was able to use for more positive, psychedelic inspiration.

I tried to use the imagery I’d learned about in my research somewhat abstractly because I didn’t want the lyrics to be dark and depressing, or even obvious. It’s a facticious tale. My own version of our collective insanity. My hope is that it might inspire the listener to do some research of their own on the subject of nuclear bombs to see how many have been detonated already, which is staggering. Maybe read some eye witness accounts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, if you have the stomach for it, or learn about real false alarms that have had the world on the brink of nuclear war.

The use of atomic weapons is not a thing to celebrate. The use of atomic weapons is not a thing to forget about. Atomic weapons are not a thing to be taken lightly.

A quote from Sri Ramakrishna: “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often with human blood, destroyed civilizations, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal”. He died August 16, 1886.

This album is dedicated to our friend Mars Williams, one of the coolest cats that ever lived. R.I.P.”…

The album is released through Fruits de Mer Records and besides Greg Curvey (Vox, Guitar), the rest of the gang consists of Vito Greco (Guitar, Portuguese Guitar), Timothy Prettyman (Bass Guitar), Nick Pruett (Drum Kit, Percussion), and special guest Andy Thompson (Mellotron). Ten songs in total (5 on each side of the LP) constitute “Einsteinium Delirium”. This amazing trademark sound (courtesy of Mr. Curvey of course) floods the place by the very first second of the opener “Peace And Love”, a remarkable amalgam of Proggy sounds, there’s Pop and Psych, under a colorful guitar vein, it’s a powerful “aggressive” Neo-Prog-Pop song, despite its “hippie” title, hehe… “Burning In The Sun” is guitar-based (of course), a dynamic riff blends with a rather cool melody combining some wonderful Popsike with some intellectual Prog Rock! “Kingdom Come” is one of my highlights, starting in an acoustic proggy way, mixing acoustic and electro-acoustic guitars, it’s quite melodic, weirdly orchestrated, becoming progressively Popp-y, and Rock-y, and Psych-y! “Equinox” is a much heavier track, powerful, fully electrically overloaded, a fast n’ furious track, a dynamite-ized Prog n’ Roller! “Transmutation” uses an electric guitar spacey “effected” in the background while in the foreground a Psych guitar suggests an orgy of sounds using a simple but groovy guitar scale of notes, resulting in a magnificent Spacey-Proggy Rock instrumental. Side “B” opens with “Right Now Here In Time”, it’s rhythmic with progressively Heavy guitars and an aggressively punky attitude! “Open Wide” is another personal favorite, an even more electrically heavy track with a quite impressive variety of time signatures, this is Modern Prog-Rock at its best! The mid-tempo “Time For Me To Go” follows, it’s built upon a sorcerous guitar riff, blending Psych, Prog, Pop, and Rock… “Valentine” is another cool but strangely orchestrated track, with various time signatures here too, it blends some Psych, some Prog, some Pop, and some Space-Rock… The last track of the album happens to be my top highlight, it’s the phantasmagoric “Fat Man”, the electric guitar plays a melody, piano/mellotron enters, sooner to leave that acoustic environment and make a huge dive into the PROGsphere of Psych-Rock, changing state from Heavily to Dreamily Prog… What a track! Mind-bending, indeed! Surely, one of the best albums of 2024, “Einsteinium Delirium” is masterfully Genius! TimeLord Michalis   

Tracklist

Links:

Listen/Buy through CUSTARD FLUX Bandcamp

Visit CUSTARD FLUX Facebook

Alternatively, get it via SHINY BEAST Mailorder