The Crystal Teardrop – Nine Times Nine (2023)
Bound by their mutual passion for the sounds, sights and creative culture of the 1960s, UK-based group The Crystal Teardrop bring a nostalgic flair to modern-day garage rock or perhaps it’s a contemporary edginess to retro rock stylings. Either way, their music is quickly turning heads garnering them a loyal following hardly a year after their formation. With coverage from Obscure Sound, Psychedelic Scene Magazine, Thoughts Words Action, Less Than 1000 Followers, Lost In The Manor, Music For All and The Buzzr Podcast, The Crystal Teardrop is reaching audiences across the globe.
The debut single from The Crystal Teardrop, ‘Nine Times Nine’ blends elements of psychedelic rock, power-pop and garage rock in a kaleidoscopic way. In an interview with Crazy on Classic Rock, Alexandra Rose Mason (vocals, guitar and mandola) noted that the aim of The Crystal Teardrop is to create a “sound that evokes the authentic feel of late 1966” and they do that so well with ‘Nine Times Nine’. A hypnotic haze of music, the single is experimental, eclectic and soul-stirring mushing together percussion, guitar, drums and Mason’s rich vocals. Interestingly enough, while the band are passionate about 60s music, there is no similarity to bands of that day. Alright, some flirting with The Byrds and The Beatles can be heard, but ‘Nine Times Nine’ is a magical melody setting a unique, inimitable and distinctive sound for The Crystal Teardrop.
Just as the melody holds its own as an otherworldly whirlpool of music, the echoey feeling perfectly captures the complex theme of ‘Nine Times Nine’. In the interview with Crazy on Classic Rock, Mason explains that ‘Nine Times Nine’ “is a song about a character caught in a hazy state of indecision. The thought of ‘doing the hard thing’ has gone round in circles in their head so many times that they feel like a broken record. They’re stuck on a track that keeps skipping…instead of just taking the record off the table they insist on trying to enjoy it but it’s simply not the same. Ultimately, it is about accepting that something isn’t right and being able to take a decision to move forward.”
Complex, intricate and confusing, The Crystal Teardrop smother you with a weight of sonic incense leaving you lost in a sea of blinding music. I highly recommend you listen to ‘Nine Times Nine’ and keep your eye out for more from The Crystal Teardrop.
For more from The Crystal Teardrop, check out their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
