Sly & The Family Drone - Moon Is Doom Backwards (2024)

Sly & The Family Drone deliver Moon Is Doom Backwards. An album of jazzy interstellar experimentalism. Andy Brown shares his thoughts for Louder Than War.

With the increased prospect of social occasions on the horizon, you may be looking for something to play at that extended family gathering or the obligatory Xmas do. Unless you have particularly open-minded relatives or a team of colleagues willing to lie in the dark and absorb some seriously strange sounds then this probably isn’t the place to start. The new Sly & the Family Drone album plays out like a jazzy soundtrack to a cult arthouse horror or crime noir. You’re unlikely to hear any of it on this year’s John Lewis Christmas ad. Bah, humbug and all that.

In short – and not to spoil the entire thrust of the review – it’s a brilliant and decidedly avant-garde offering from this London-based neo-jazz wreckin’ crew. What’s more, they’ve gone and called it The Moon Is Doom Backwards. Which, aside from being an unarguably accurate statement, is an early indicator of the bands rather playful approach.

The album consists of seven instrumentals of varying length and while it may be slightly cliché to say so, they are best enjoyed as a whole. The Moon Is Doom Backwards is a free-flowing psych-jazz odyssey that deserves your full attention. Listening to the madness unfold, I get the same feeling of unhindered exploration that I’ve enjoyed when watching them play live. On stage – or more likely set up on the floor in front of it – the collective creates a loud, immersive and wholly unique experience. If they can capture even a tenth of that energy then we’re in for a treat.

On their latest LP, The Family Drone create wild, strung-out soundscapes using drums, percussion and electronics. Oh, and lashings of bass clarinet. The excellent Glistening Benevolence opens things up with something propulsive and primal. The drums lead the ritual as creepy electronics and squawking woodwind punctuate the groove. There’s an underlying tension here that keeps you firmly perched on the edge of your seat. Hold onto your space helmets, my dear cadets, because things only get weirder from this point on.

Going In is a markedly more frantic affair. It’s the kind of thing that could really freak people out if it happened to come up on shuffle. A nervous breakdown in musical form, if you will. Cuban Funeral Sandwich is a far more sparse and atmospheric offering. Lonesome bass clarinet and jazzy, minimalistic percussion make it feel like we’ve stepped inside some smoky after-hours watering hole. Joyless Austere Post-war Biscuits continues along similarly restrained yet satisfyingly unsettling lines. Utter chaos bubbling just under the surface. In case it isn’t clear, this is most certainly not a ‘rock’ album in any shape or form.

The Relentless Veneration of Bees is a dark, impressionistic piece. I feel a little like Bill Pullman in Lost Highway, stepping ever further down some pitch-black corridor and into some Lynchian nightmare. Those looking for a hook or some semblance of a tune should look elsewhere. Guilty Splinters is a squealing and truly unhinged cacophony. I’ve mentioned jazz a few times but don’t go expecting some smooth, finger clicking groove. This isn’t dinner party music. Ankle Length Gloves sounds like the kind of disturbing, toy box melody music that frustrated artist Brian Topp would listen to in UK sitcom Spaced. So, I hear you ask, what is it that Sly & The Family Drone specialise in? Anger, pain, fear and aggression. Strictly no watercolours.

I pressed play on the album and partly expected some relentless sonic bombardment yet The Moon Is Doom Backwards is a far more subtle, diverse and challenging piece of work. No one’s doing it quite like The Family Drone. Sharing a space with the more guitar orientated acts in the underground, Sly are bringing experimental jazz to a whole new crowd. With the reassuring promise of noise, the band lure us into a world where all bets are off and the bass clarinet has usurped the guitar. It’s all wonderfully subversive. Listen to the album and go and experience them live as soon as humanly possible