I’ve been following Lord Buffalo for a while now but their music really clicked for me when I got to see them live earlier this year, with Elder and REZN (yes, that lineup is killer). Over the years, they have been perfecting this sort of cyclical, meditative blend of psychedelic rock and stoner rock, with touches of doom and something deeper, almost drone like in quality. It lends itself amazingly to the live stage, conjuring forth a powerful energy in the room, coupled with an enchanting stage presence. All of this made me even more excited for Holus Bolus, their new album I am proud to be premiering in full here today. Armed with more knowledge on how the band see themselves and what they are going for, both sonically and thematically, I was ready to dive into this release and boy was I rewarded for it.
Holus Bolus is probably Lord Buffalo’s most complete release to date. It features all of the staples of their sound, namely the primacy of the powerful vocals, a present and powerful groove section, and guitars which seem to undulate into the heat-haze of deserts yet unnamed and undiscovered. But Holus Bolus also goes seems to lurk and tempt more than ever before, the slowly constructing riffs more malicious and dripping with dark intent than ever before. Check out the second track, “Slow Drug”, as an example; as the steady beat of the track, described by drums and bass, goes on, there’s an unfurling of other percussive elements and multiple guitar parts, like a beast lurching somewhere to be born. It feels menacing and Lord Buffalo absolutely take their time exploring every inch of that energy.
The press release I got with the album actually captures all of this perfectly when it says: “Lord Buffalo is heavy in the way that ghosts are heavy… in the way that billowing dust is heavy.” Nor does the album relent elsewhere; even in more approachable and straight-forward tracks, like “Passing Joy” which follows “Slow Drug”, Lord Buffalo’s music drips with that sort of pent up energy, now released. Sometimes it unspools into ambient passages, sometimes it condenses into tighter structures and whirling riffs, but always it is expertly present, hovering around Lord Buffalo’s music. It makes Holus Bolus a gripping album that’s not to be missed by fans of the spaces between folk, psych, desert, and stoner.
Holus Bolus releases on July 12th (that’s tomorrow) via blog favorites, Blues Funeral Recordings. You can head on over to the Bandcamp page above to pre-order it. And well you should.
Eden Kupermintz
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