With our Needle In The Hay vinyl competition open once more, we’re back to enjoying an esteemed selection of tunes submitted by Australian and New Zealand artists. For our latest entry spotlight, we’re looking at The Psychotic Reactions.
Coming to you hot out of Fremantle, WA, the quartet have been kicking around for a few years now. In fact, we first encountered them back in 2018, with the release of their track All In My Head. Nevertheless, it was an absolute joy rediscovering this psych-rock opus in our Needle In The Hay 2020 entries list.
On their single All In My Head, Fremantle-based four-piece The Psychotic Reactions pull you into an ocean of fuzzy vintage psych sounds.
Clocking in at five-and-a-half-minutes, the song is a sprawling slice of vintage garage sounds. Recorded on an eight-track tape machine, the song feels explorative but still possesses warmth and character; it stretches into far-reaching sonic spaces without ever leaving the ground.
Frontwoman Hannah Smillie’s lush vocal melodies weave into dense, fuzzy instrumentation, creating an ocean of sonic textures. With blissful harmonies and jagged guitar stabs, All In My Head builds steadily over the course of its run-time, eventually developing into something completely immersive.
Coronavirus may have thrown a big ol’ wet towel over live music, but tunes like this will evoke those same feelings of raw energy.
Do yourself a favour and listen to the track above.
Needle In The Hay is a competition run by Happy Mag, giving one artist the chance to win 250 copies of their single on 7-inch vinyl. To enter or find out more, click here.
