Glamor and good times aren't dead, according to Halifax, Nova Scotia's Walrus on their EP, Glam Returns for Out of Sound / Poncho Records. Dealing in heavier tied-dye than glittered up platforms, the six piece lead by the brothers Justin and Jordan Murphy guides us into the blazing light of psychotropic chords on the debut of, “Bulash”. Upon pressing the play button, listen as the liquid lava lamp-like multicolor projections spray across your mind in a theater of light.
Walrus starts the party on their extended player with the seagull soaring surf wave crash of, “Banger”, as the title track breaks the edge of ennui for the open armed ballad of open arms and hearts. Some of the band's wildest monster jams can be heard on the eight minutes plus behemoth that is, “It's No Myth To Me”, that dissolves into a fireball of shredded chords echoing the mythos of the rock god ancients.
“Bulash” is a condensed version of psych ceremonies found “Myth”, where guitar chords rattle against the mind opening space synthesizers. It begins with guitar strings pouring like a fountain of liquid guitars that spills into an electric creek of absorbing feeling and surrounding sounds. Walrus's taps into a certain tone owns those classic psychedelic pop principles, with mixing that sounds like flying saucers invading Halifax in the name of peace and Volkswagen bus UFOs. The spring and pre-summer of love has descended upon Nova Scotia, with the advent of Glam Returns.
Walrus's Justin Murphy talked with us about Halifax bands of interest, recording their debut full-length, and the genesis of the sextet.
How did you guys meet, and become Walrus?
Walrus started off as a project between myself, Justin, and my brother Jordan, and we were originally a two-piece live group, but eventually we knew that we had to flesh out our sound. We knew our guitar player, also named Justin, from our hometown so he was an easy fit with us, and our bass player Adam and synth player, also named Adam, we met just from playing in different bands with mutual friends. At this point it seems this is our ideal line up, we all gel musically and as friends so it's easy to tour and create music with these guys.
What releases are you guys cooking up?
We having been working on new songs, and playing them exclusively for the past two months, really trying to hone them before we go into the studio and record them. We are starting recording our first full-length LP this April with Charles Austin in Halifax, and it will hopefully be ready for this summer.
What singles and albums have you all been enjoying lately?
Lately we've been enjoying a lot of stuff that our friends are making like this band out of Halifax called NO BODIES, their first release is really amazing, and this London/Guelph band called WHOOP-szo just released a really psychedelic double-album. Aside from that we've been enjoying the most recent White Fence record, the amazing album by The Byrds The Notorious Byrds Brothers, and we always love hearing “Take It To The Limit” by The Eagles.
Prospects for spring, summer, through fall for Walrus?
For the spring and summer our plan is to really focus on making this album exactly how we want it to sound, we don't want to rush the process as we found that was the case with the release of Glam Returns. In between recording we have a couple of tours booked, in May/June we are doing a two-week tour around Quebec and Ontario, playing a couple festivals like Grickle Grass (London, Ontario) and NXNE (Toronto, Ontario). After that we will come back home finish up the record, and then in August/September we are going on another three-week tour going all the way across Canada and back.
Walrus's Glam Returns EP is available now for Out of Sound / Poncho Records
