Every so often, an ageing agit-rocker will crawl out of the woodwork to bemoan that the abject state of our governments is not being met with suitable ire from the current generation of songwriters. Where are our Bob Dylans, our Joe Strummers, our Rage Against The Machines? Obviously this is a load of old cobblers: pop is as diverse and engaged as it's ever been, with young musicians at the vanguard of campaigns for racial equality, social justice and a ceasefire in Gaza. You don't need to literally write a song about it.
JONI MITCHELL IS ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – ORDER YOUR COPY HERE! This clamour for old-fashioned punk dissent overlooks the fact that it's also the job of music to create utopias; that the quest for bliss is also an act of resistance. Hence the current yearning for ambient and New Age atmospheres that has united musicians from the fields of jazz, folk, electronica, neo-classical and, in this case, psychedelic rock. This mass retreat to calmer terrain is more than mere escapism – it's an attempt to dream a better world based on principles of compassion, contemplation and consideration of beauty.
Advertisement As with most of the musicians currently occupying this liminal space, Ezra Feinberg is no lightweight; his soothing prescriptions are effective precisely because they carry the wisdom of years of thoughtful musical study and exploration. Back in the 2000s, he led the psychedelic folk-rock band Citay, who were Bay Area contemporaries of Comets On.
