One of the joys of working for yourself is that you can do pretty much whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want. That level of freedom might take some getting used to — but it appears Jake and Jamin Orrall of Nashville’s Jeff The Brotherhood have been able to wrap their heads around it quite nicely as of late. Since departing from a short-lived major-label deal a few years back, they’ve been heading further into uncharted terrain with every subsequent release — not that they ever seemed that comfortable in the commercial world to begin with. In any case, their sonic expedition continues on their genre-busting 13th album Magick Songs. According to the press bumpf, it’s some sort of dystopian sci-fi concept album inspired by Isaac Asimov novels and Jamin’s apocalyptic dream visions. If they say so. What I hear more closely resembles a boundless landscape of freewheeling, loosely arranged jams that fearlessly and effortlessly incorporate everything from dreamy psychedelia and darkly driving Krautrock to ’90s alt angularity and even slogging doom metal — not to mention the occasional searing guitar line and plenty of swirly, undermixed vocals. All in all, it’s an excellent job of magic-making, risk-taking and general rule-breaking. And nice work if you can get it.
