FIRST SONG: Lord Buffalo builds and releases tension with the atmospheric rocker “Cracks in the Vermeer”

Lord Buffalo is heavy in the same way that ghosts are heavy…in the same way that flying dust is heavy.

That is to say, the music of the Austin, Texas band Psych-Americana has a strong impact, even if it seems impossible to touch. Their sound moves through us, it doesn’t invite the Pavlovian response of typical heavy rock music.

It is perhaps fitting then that their new album Holus Bolus (released via Blues Funeral Recordings on July 12) takes its name from an outdated term meaning “all at once.” It instantly materializes from the first notes of the opening title track, like a dark gray mist drawing listeners in with the band’s deft juxtapositions of droning violin, guitars, drums, and vocals. It is inspired as much by Morricone and Badalementi as by Sabbath and Swans.

As the quartet trudges through the same murky waters as their dark and emotional brethren David Eugene Edwards/Woven Hand, Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle, Earth/Dylan Carlson, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave, etc., their creative interplay of Middle Eastern influence with a distinctly Western atmosphere takes listeners in entirely new directions as the album envelops them.

Lord Buffalo is Daniel Pruitt (guitar, bass, piano, vocals, melodica), Garrett Hellman (guitar, subbass, piano, synths), Patrick Patterson (violin) and Yamal Said (drums, percussion). Holus Bolus was recorded by Danny Reisch and Max Lorenzen at Good Danny’s in Lockhart, Texas. Mixed by Danny Reisch. Mastered by Max Lorenzen.

Today Slide is thrilled to present the standout track “Cracks in the Vermeer,” a dark, atmospheric rock meditation that features menacing guitars and brooding vocals that stretch and sprawl. Indeed, it taps into a kind of American Gothic sound that cuts through a dramatic soundscape that could be a stormy night in the Old West. The band seems to delight in slowly building and releasing tension, with moments of sinister rock that even include a nod to throat singing. For Lord Buffalo, this song demonstrates his power and versatility.

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