If you enjoy drinking Tizer laced with Space Dust, if your beaker of Irn Bru isn’t complete without a sherbet lemon fizzing away at the bottom, then you’ll find the Chemistry Set’s latest confection of acid-pop pastilles nigh-on irresistible.
The cult London psych merchants continue to display remarkable levels of creativity and inspiration – astonishing for a band whose roots go way back to 1987. To understand where the Set are coming from, look no further than the song Albert Hoffman, a joyous, swirling celebration of the Swiss scientist who discovered LSD (notwithstanding the grievous conclusion when ‘his world turns back to drizzle grey’).
Elsewhere, International Rescue impresses with its warped Monkees riff, Winter Sun has the vibe of an elegiac medieval ballad, the wistful trippery of Elapsed Memories conjures an ambience of aching emptiness and The Open Window is a Harrison/Maharishi wig-out. Truth be told, each of the 12 tracks here provokes a fizzy and foamy reaction. Job done.
