Album Review: Crawling Chorus

Just for those living under a rock, Ripship are a psych-rock duo and their insanely good nine track LP Crawling Chorus is out now. It’s a rich blend of psychedelic guitar and synth noodling, futuristic pedal laden feedback, crisp drums and heavily effected dual vocals. Although it can be difficult to hear the lyrics often, certain words regarding the future, aliens, robots, time travel, Starship Troopers, climate change, Jehovah’s Witness propaganda and other science fiction themes can be heard bubbling up amongst the complex sounds. Oh yeah, and pictures of caribou. There are elements of progressive rock although more in terms of song structure rather than length of song. There are some heavy moments for sure, but also some pretty pop, catchy hooks, tasty guitar solos and drums that march, swing and stomp.

Although the songs are vastly different in both inspiration and sonic experimentation, there are some elements similar to a concept album. For example, opening ditty Chrome is short and sweet, hinting at the sounds and concepts to come, while album closer The Ending is both self-referential and perfectly placed to end the adventure. Having a short song at the beginning and a grand finale, (along with all the tracks having some connection to a common theme or technology related), makes the album an interrelated collection of songs that sound best when experienced in the prescribed order as a whole.

Bands that come to mind are Unknown Mortal Orchestra, A Place to Bury Strangers, Trans AM, Good Shirt, Dimmer, Melvins, Tame Impala, Rage Against the Machine and even Rammstein. I am sure the band was inspired by many other artists, as diverse as Radiohead, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and Frank Zappa, but these don’t all translate to the forefront.

Recorded and mixed by James Goldsmith with phenomenal artwork by Matt Fisher, this is one album that sets the band apart from their peers and one they should be very proud of. On the merits of both this release and their previous release, 2022’s Fearsome Engine, the band has moved to Melbourne (after touring Japan) and have opened for international acts such as Jack White.

The album begins with Chrome, a pretty ballad introducing the listener to the potential sounds to follow while the breathy lyrics of “because in the future, everything is chrome” repeats gently.

New Mexico features a simplistic chugging rhythm to build on that the drums playfully weave around. It’s a stonking, driving song about witnessing a UFO getting shot down and it sounds perfect for dancing with a great chorus that contrasts from the simplicity of the verse and incorporates a large note and tone range. Then there’s a screeching solo with an unorthodox guitar tone all reaching a whimsical conclusion by the end of the song.

Bon Voyage is a call and response song, featuring a gentle choir vocals reacting to synth arpeggios and powerful, saturated guitar stabs that are heavily gated to create an interesting effect especially when applied to the tuneful, tasty solo. Lyrically, the song relates to drama on the Voyager II probe losing contact with ground control and having to say goodbye to planet Earth.

The dystopian Debugger has the most heavily effected guitar tone and is the most heavy song so far on the record. There are marching drums, gang vocals that sound like some futuristic army chanting, and a crazy guitar effect using something similar to a whammy pedal that allows both an ascending and descending note delay like a spring bouncing. A highlight of the album and a sure crowd pleaser. Great show opener or closer.

Utopia is an upbeat, melodic, happy sounding pop song and contrasts to many of the other songs in the Ripship setlist. There’s a riff vaguely reminiscent from The Rembrandt’s famous Friends opening sequence for crying out loud.

Who Likes Magic? is largely instrumental piece that gets very heavy toward the end and is built on a swinging, Motown drumbeat. The song cleverly uses a sample of a Jehovah’s Witness cartoon claiming toy wizards are satanic. Perfect.

Ever Dream This Band? is a strange, hypnotic, creepy song about lucid dreaming. It’s nice to see the band experimenting beyond what they have become famous for. The song starts out like a whimsical children’s show, reaching a sludgy section halfway through with a nearly identical tone to Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.

Caribou demonstrates the band’s humour with the silly, Good Shirt inspired Moog synth sounds. The vocals playfully sing “I know you like pictures of Caribou – so here’s a thousand pictures of caribou”, and the song ends with a heavy, but perhaps unnecessary conclusion. The lyrics relate to the more innocent times of the early internet.

Final song, The Ending warns the listener about the dangers of ignoring climate change. It starts off innocently enough with a melodic tune that fades in, before dual vocals introduce a slightly unexpected melodic line, hinting at something sinister to follow – which it does after the line “Did the ending let you down?” is sung. The song ends in a cathartic torrent of feedback.

This is an impressive release that expands on the unusual sounds and heavy elements the band has refined as their signature sound. The tones here are unorthodox but thanks to the clever mixing it all remains in perfect equilibrium. It’s nerdy, quirky and heavy. What more could you ask for?