Rating: NNN
Rock stars have a tendency to mellow with age. Maybe, but on their 10th album Primal Scream sound like they’re going the other way. After cringe-worthy forays into dated Black Crowesy blues rock and conventional pop, the restless Scottish rockers have crafted their best album since XTRMNTR.
Tightly produced by David Holmes and featuring collaborations with the Sun Ra Arkestra, MBV’s Kevin Shields and Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, More Light is a spacey, far-out rock record that succeeds in melding the band’s love of gospel, blues, psychedelic grooves, druggy rock, sci-fi pop and anarchist agitprop.
Songs like the folky freak-out River Of Pain, the shambolic sign-of-the-times anthem 2013 and the slinky Hit Void are experimental but focused. Frontman Bobby Gillespie’s lyrics still don’t sound as effortlessly cool as his breathy delivery (see Culturecide), but it feels like the band is back on the pulse of something – a signature sound finally?
Top track: 2013
