Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Shyga! The Sunlight Mound

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets make a triumphant return for their fourth studio album, Shyga! The Sunlight Mound. A fuzzy trip that continues the Crumpets’ ascendancy as psych-rock’s standard bearer and one of Australia’s hottest acts, Shyga! is a vivid, at times overwhelming journey through a thrilling storm of sound. 

A follow-up to 2019’s And Now for the Whatchamacallit, the free-wheeling bravado of Shyga! sets Psychedelic Porn Crumpets apart from some of their more ponderous, comparatively subdued forebears in Australia’s now internationally exported scene. From its anthemic beginnings on the swaggering opener Tally-Ho to the soaring close of  The Tale of the Gurny Gridman, PPC maintain a blistering momentum without sacrificing variety. 

Tracks like The Terrors and Mundungus are reminiscent of early Wavves or fellow countrymen King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: pure ecstasy distilled in a careering sonic assault. Ripe for moshing, adoring crowds, one can only envy the home crowds that will soon be able to enjoy this intoxicating record in person. 

While the unstoppable drive of the album leaves little time for breath, moments of moderation, as in the warped sounds of Round the Corner, provide welcome space for the band to flex beyond brain-melting riffs. On Pukebox, Jack McEwan’s vocals and lyrics really come to the fore, a reflection of the excess that Shyga!’s sound is doused in. The instrumentation, however, is the real foundation: from Danny Caddy’s thunderous drums to the bass lines laid down by Luke Reynolds and Luke Parish’s electrifying riffs, the soundscape is one of pure immersion. Indulgent, yes, but never boring. 

True music in technicolour, Shyga! The Sunlight Mound is a storming success and a testament to the great things that can happen when a band is able to grow and develop their creative output on their own terms – all high, no comedown. 

Jasper Watkins
Photo: Josh Ludlow

Shyga! The Sunlight Mound is released on 5^th February 2021. For further information or to order the album visit Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Pukebox here: