Ranging from members of Fu Manchu to Mos Generator to Yawning Man in their lineup, prolific Stoner Rock overlords Big Scenic Nowhere have left an everlasting legacy through their works for the past years. Now they are back with their third studio release, namely The Waydown– released via Heavy Psych Sounds. Consisting of seven tracks, the album presents the purest form of desert-styled riffs while also fusing them with jazz fusion-inspired elements. It’s fairly off-kilter to combine Desert/Stoner Rock with Jazz Fusion elements, so this has been a unique, newfound take, but of course in the finest way possible.

It is a well-known fact that the recordings that now ended up as The Waydown were from a jam session in 2021, around the time they were playing a show in Joshua Tree and thought that they should spend two days jamming in the studio. The mixing and mastering process was done by the man Tony Reed (also of Mos Generator) himself, at HeavyHead Recording.

Not only being a supergroup consisting of members of notable acts, apparently Big Scenic Nowhere also featured  a notable amount of extraordinary names as guest performers on The Waydown– being Reeves Gabrels of The Cure fame, Per Wiberg ex-Opeth and Spiritual Beggars fame, and Eliot Lewis of Hall and Oates fame. Reeves Gabrels presented impeccable guitar loop transitions, while Per Wiberg was in charge of the keys on the tracks “100” and “Summer Teeth”. Fun fact; the track “Sara Smile” is actually a Hall and Oates cover, so of course, Eliot Lewis had to take a part on it!

While focusing on the convergence between Desert-Stoner Rock and Jazz Fusion, Big Scenic Nowhere somehow also manage to retain the psychedelic rock elements that they have consistently been preserving since the early years of their formation. They presented a huge range from soaring, captivating vocals to mind-blowing rhythm guitar lines to enchanting melodies of keys. I personally haven’t listened to a lot of desert – and stoner rock in a while, but my experience with The Waydown on first listen surely brings me a nostalgic sense of retrospective reminiscence, to the old days when I used to listen to a lot of Queens of the Stone Age and Fu Manchu-era desert rock back in high school. So far, it sure is a profound experience listening to a less conventional take on desert rock that fuses with Jazz-inspired elements. 

Buy the album here:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/

8 / 10
RALKA SKJERSETH