THE BELLWETHERS – PSYCHIC RADIO

Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from Phoenix (US) band, The Bellwethers. Psychic Radio was released on March 10, 2023, and is an intoxicating psychedelic/grunge/stoner/ hard rock track.

We’ve reviewed The Bellwethers a couple of times before and have been impressed with their blues rock/ classic rock style. Psychic Radio is a bit of a change of direction, with a heavier rock feel and a focus on punishing guitar riffs and bass-led sections.

In their words, The Bellwethers “rose from the ashes of musical acts stretching back to the East coast and all the way to the West.” They are on a journey to quench the musical thirst of their desert hometown (Phoenix) and beyond.

The song starts with sound effects and leads quickly into a bass-led introduction that truly gets under your skin. It has a relentless feel that sounded a little like what we’d imagine the Doors would be creating if they’d started today.

Layered male vocals fill your ears, with female vocals interspersing with them, singing a repeated line. The distant reverbs on the voices work well, and as the song progresses the guitars power on and feel heavier.

We love the slow, head-nodding rhythm to this track, which is broken up by some nifty fast work on the hi-hat.

There’s a very cool “divebomb” like effect used a couple of times in this track; once in the middle and once at the end. We’re not quite sure how else to describe it! You’ll have to listen to hear what we mean!

Psychic Radio is a track for a late-night playlist. It’s a track we feel would work well in a TV show or movie and we’d urge The Bellwethers to seek out opportunities for placement to win them new fans.

Ideas from our ears.

A hi-pass filter at 40Hz and a boost around 55Hz would remove some sub-bass rumble and add some extra thump to the kick drum sound. A wide boost across the high mids and highs centred around 10kHz would increase the brightness and presence overall too. Finally, a light compressor/limiter and maybe 5dB of make-up gain to increase the warmth and volume. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.

Final thoughts

The Bellwethers are producing consistently impressive blues/classic rock with nostalgic leanings towards 60s and 70s rock. Psychic Radio is a slight detour from their usual style, showing the diversity and skills of this talented Phoenix-based band.

https://thebellwethersmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thebelllwethersmusic
https://twitter.com/thebellwethers
https://open.spotify.com/artist/73UggbBUchjsO1XTQNSD4C
https://soundcloud.com/thebellwethers
https://youtu.be/D_2Jb1y5eCU
https://www.instagram.com/thebellwethers/