Unsurprisingly, that rhythm immediately stands out. Far removed from a conventional straight-ahead rock beat, it gives the opening an unusual, creeping quality before psychedelic guitars begin snaking their way into the mix, adding an increasingly shadowy and unsettling edge. ‘Beat’ gradually gains weight until thick, bluesy stoner-rock guitars take centre stage, transforming its initial unease into something much more muscular. Through it all, Joana Brito’s effortlessly cool vocal glides above the instrumentation, providing a laid-back counterpoint to the heaviness beneath. Close your eyes and it’s easy to picture endless dusty desert roads disappearing into the distance, with something ever so slightly sinister lurking beyond the horizon.

Lyrically, however, ‘Beat’ comes from a much more vulnerable place. “It’s a song on fragility, a song about standing in the corner, feeling alone, with nowhere to go,” explains Joana, before rejecting the pressure to conform: “There’s beauty in diversity, there’s love in equality and that’s all that matters.” It’s a powerful sentiment wrapped inside an impressively weighty slice of psychedelic stoner rock – and further proof that sometimes starting with the beat can take a song somewhere unexpected.

The post The Black Wizards put rhythm first on psychedelic new single ‘Beat’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Force Majeure & The Acts of God is named after the legal phrase used to describe uncontrollable circumstances, reflecting both the chaotic conditions surrounding the record’s creation and a sense of dark humour and defiance that runs through the album’s ten tracks.

The Porto-based trio of Joana Brito (guitar/vocals), José Gomes (bass/vocals) and Helena Peixoto (drums) present their fourth album and their first since 2019’s Reflections, marking a decisive break from their past. The doomy haze and sprawling stoner-rock tag that once followed the band has been stripped back in favour of something sharper and more poised, deftly traversing a wider sonic palette. These songs don’t lumber forward so much as lunge.

It’s a fresh take on their sound, embodied with the garage rock swagger and bluesy stomp of today’s new single ‘Loose’, which Joana describes as “a groovy wandering on anxiety thoughts and feeling trapped inside your own head.” She adds: “It’s about accepting those thought patterns and learning how to navigate through them. With everything happening right now in this cursed world, we ride the everyday struggles of 9-to-5 jobs, low pay, poor working conditions, and so on. While it can be difficult to keep up with all this, we wanted to make it a sharp song with a straight to the point chorus, but also release the tension on the verses, relying on the wobbly synth (it’s the first time we use a synthesizer in such highlight) and steady beat.”

Force Majeure & The Acts of God:

1. Ain’t Talking
2. Loose
3. Killing The Buzz
4. 9 to 5
5. Beat
6. Wishing Well
7. Ain’t Joking
8. Caffeine
9. Elevator 15
10. Astrophile

The post The Black Wizards announce new album Force Majeure & The Acts of God and share new single ‘Loose’ appeared first on She Makes Music.