Their second full-length LP As Above, So Below (2016) firmly established Stonefield as one of the key players in the current wave of Australian psych-rock, but Far From Earth – the bands’ Flightless debut – sees the band’s sound enter a whole new spectrum. With Black Mountain’s Stephen McBean at the production helm, first single and album opener ‘Delusion’ demonstrates a shift from the hardened psych pop of earlier records toward more prog and heavy metal. The title track ‘Far From Earth’ extrapolates on this, as a bass drum pulses between blurry synth lines and circular guitar riffs.
‘In The Eve’ reveals a silkier side to drummer/singer Amy’s trademark vocals before launching into a driving and unabashedly hooky chorus. ‘Visions’ enters with a striding dancefloor-esque rhythm section, the lyrics exposing the album’s overarching theme of making sense of yourself in your own mind as well as in the universe/multiverse. ‘Together’ is a tender moment – “Time goes slowly, moves so gently, when we are as one…lover, lover” – which morphs into a Ravi Shankar-era Beatles sound on ‘Broken Stone’. Tenderness is fleeting, however, as ‘Through The Storm’ propels the listener right back in to Sabbath territory and ‘In My Head’ continues the dark, sludgy journey. ‘Sleepyhead’ is a proggy lullaby, with the instrumental closer ‘Celestial Spaces’ making it damn hard for listeners to come down from this trip through the Stonefield stratosphere.
123 Agency & Flightless Records presents:
STONEFIELD
Far From Earth Tour
Friday 18th May
Sooki Lounge – Belgrave, VIC
Saturday 19th May
Bridge Hotel – Castlemaine, VIC
Thursday 24th May
Cambridge Hotel – Newcastle, VIC
Friday 25th May
Oxford Art Factory – Sydney, NSW
Saturday 26th May
UniBar – Wollongong, NSW
Friday 1st June
T he Foundry – Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 2nd June
Mo’s Desert Clubhouse – Gold Coast, QLD
Friday 8th June
Jack Rabbit Slims – Perth, WA
Saturday 9th June
Jive – Adelaide, SA
Saturday 16th June
The Tote – Melbourne, VIC
Tickets via stonefield.com.au