BEAUTIFY JUNKYARDS – Nova (2024, LP/CD Ghost Box) 

RELEASE INFO:

Label:  Ghost Box

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition

Release Date: 20 Sep 2024 

Our beloved (and I have to thank Fruits de Mer Records for that) Portuguese band, Beautify Junkyards, is back with a new fresh line-up and a remarkable album full of exciting surprises and even more exciting guest appearances! Let’s have a look at the press release:

“Nova is the third album on Ghost Box for Lisbon based band Beautify Junkyards. As ever, the songs have a wide instrumental palette with ethereal vocals from both João Branco Kyron and new singer Martinez. This time around however, there’s a more electronic feel to proceedings and the usual rich and melodic songwriting has a somewhat more experimental and Avant-pop sensibility. Kyron’s synths and electronics are now augmented by the most recent recruit to the band Bernard Loopkin. Together their contemporary sound design combined with meticulous period sampling evoke a world of 60s & 70s movie soundtracks, library music and vintage electronica; the sounds reminiscent of White Noise, Piero Umiliani, Mort Garson and Broadcast.

This is not machine music though; Antonio Watts’ mesmerizing drumming and percussion beautifully underpin the songs and the bass and guitars of Sergue and João Moreira intertwine throughout, ensuring that there’s always a sinuous, human feel.

Lyrically the songs explore a surreal and abstract dreamscape, taking stylistic cues from situationism, Dada, cut-up and the wider reaches of the psychedelic imagination. This is reflected in Julian House’s beautiful and carefully researched design work for the album, which draws its inspiration from the situationist and revolutionary underground press of 1960s Europe.

Special Guest Artists:

Beautify Junkyards have always enjoyed working with writing and performing collaborators. Nova is no exception and features some very special guests. Paul Weller sings and plays guitar on the co-written song, “Sister Moon”. Dorothy Moskowitz (of United States of America) co-wrote and sings on “Turn the Tide”. Jesse Chandler (of Pneumatic Tubes, Midlake and Mercury Rev) contributes flute on “Groundstar”…

“Nova” is the 5th Beautify Junkyards album and contains 11 tracks, 5 on the first side and 6 on the second side of the LP album. It kicks off with “Black Cape” and the mood of the band to be more “electronic” is pretty obvious by the very first second, a deeply electronically flavored track, a brilliant Psych mix of Tropicalia and Electronica dressed with beautiful female vocals, of course, at the far back of the track an educated “ear” can spot a jazzy experimental edge. “Dancers Reward” sounds like a studio electronic experiment indicating a prodigious futuristic late 60s electronic (of course!) atmosphere, Silver Apples come instantly to mind while listening to this trippy tune that shows a strong folk-o-tronic edge… Paul Weller sings, plays guitar, and co-writes the next one, “Sister Moon”, the song takes us back to the mid-80s (a very good and well-known period for Paul), this is an electronic Pop track with trippy futuristic keys and despite Weller’s participation, the track gives you the feel of being inside a Peter Gabriel (or maybe a David Byrne) song, and that is fantastically awesome! On “Sonora” the band blends some trippy tropicalia with electronic music creating a rather trip-a-delic kind of nostalgic atmos with an Avant Garde feel and a slightly experimental edge… “Here Everything Is Still Floating” is dark, creep-a-delic with numerous “electronic effects” while a beautiful female voice comes to total antithesis with the experimental musical motive, a track that certainly is taking us back to the experimental electronic late 60s bringing to mind bands like Fifty Foot Hose, or United States Of America, or even White Noise and I have to admit that the second part of the song is surprisingly interesting! Side ‘B’ opens with “Raridade de Contrastes”, a fine blend of electronics, percussions, cool vocals, and weird sampling sounds, the scenery is quite cinematic and kind of futuristic acting like an Avant avant-garde electro-pop experiment… “Somersault” starts under a trippy electronically (of course) flavored background, a track that slowly unfolds, giving enough space to musicians to make “controlled” improvisations, a rather cool trip-a-delicious song. “Groundstar” which features Jesse Chandler on flute, has an amazing atmosphere that is created by visionary futuristic soundscapes along with krauty (kind of) synths, of course above all these is that lovely catchy flute sound, this is a psychedelically tropical jazzy little piece of splendid music with a strong 60s cinematic feel! “Orbit” is Anant electronica with a trip-hop edge mixing some melancholic electronic vibes with a mind-bending futuristic electronic key sound! “Pulsing Abstractions” is a slow dark electronic studio experiment, super futuristic with a “Tubular Bells” inspired electronic theme… The album comes to an end with “Turn The Tide”, a track that the great Dorothy of The United States Of America sings (she also co-wrote it), it’s trippy, a bit creepy, experimental, electronic (of course!!!), and Avant-Garde! A magical tune! (At this point I’d like to seize the opportunity and advise you to go and check “The Afterlife” album that Dorothy Moskowitz released with Retep Folo later this year)… So, Beautify Junkyards delivered another cool and full of “quality” album, an album that goes beyond the ordinary… TimeLord Michalis 

Tracklist

Check BEAUTIFY JUNKYARDS Bandcamp

Get the album via GHOST BOX Web

Visit BEAUTIFY JUNKYARDS Facebook