***One reviewer said this about Lavender Daydreams: “Blissed out folk psycher in the vein of Tim Buckley or Dan Fogleberg but waaay more psyched out. Richard has certainly dropped a tab or three in his time. A really, really good album to mind-surf to, and also poppy enough that it would sound good coming out of a boombox in a field while you are throwing the frisbee and smoking some bohoofus.” And they were right—Richard did drop many a tab when writing and recording the album: "The songs ‘Lord and Master,’ ‘Here We Are,’ ‘Sunny Days,’ and several others were inspired by experiences I had on psychedelics. Lavender Daydreams comes from my meditation experiences. ‘Electra’ is about a girl I fell in love with while tripping... I realized my purpose in life I was always looking for was in experiencing the extraordinary perfection in front of me every moment and engaging it in play and fun… This is a common theme in my songs. Celebrating those everyday moments. ‘Falling Angels’ was written about crashing on acid. About when we have to squeeze back into our everyday self and the feeling of “Now that the doors of perception have been blown off their hinges what am I going to do about it.” And that slides right into ‘A Stranger’ where you begin reflecting on it. There you are, crashing, beer in hand, a stranger to yourself. ‘Soaring’ is inspired by lying on our back in the field by the Long Island...
LP $18.65
06/28/2024
***Richard Soutar was one of the earliest artists on the east coast to write, record, press and publish his own albums. In 1976, he self-released a trippy DIY gem of a record called Lavender Daydreams, followed by Episodes in 1979. Both albums eventually saw reissue as (long sold out) LP editions on Void Records, who are now going to release Soutar's latest recordings in a band setting, Satori Circus, which has touches of hard rock, blues, and county—as handled in Soutar’s idiosyncratic way. Stated influences on the new album include the Doors and Mississippi John Hurt—and maybe much more accurately, an Adyashanti lecture: “all the crazy scenes you go through like a madman running in circles and suddenly seeing it clearly because you’re in this very quiet sacred moment that descends unexpectedly on you. Some people call it Grace, others samadhi, others Satori,” as Soutar explains. "Satori Circus is a collection of songs I wrote over the last fifteen years… and some go back farther,” says Soutar. "It included sounds that aren’t being created anymore but I still love and I feel others might still want to hear. I played with sound effects more. I also had access to a mellotron and a Hammond B3 and anything else I could think of. Satori Circus is my movement into digital. It was very difficult and I struggled with my 8-track digital. It was like working with gloves on for an analogue and tape guy. There were extra steps and a lot...
LP $18.50
08/25/2023