Earthless has always been a live band above all. Not that their studio albums aren't good, on the contrary, but the fact is that none of them have ever really managed to reproduce the orgiastic madness and excess that the Californian trio shows on stage. It's always sweaty but immensely happy that we finish a concert of the Americans with whom rare are the formations to compete in terms of psychedelic, bluesy and simply rock feeling.
Earthless are three guys who get on stage in sneakers, plug in their instruments and gradually raise the temperature. Ideally supported by Mario Rubalcaba, a kind of Ian Paice in stoner mode, and the bassist Mike Eginton, as quiet as essential, the guitarist Isaiah Mitchell takes off very high towards the stars, arched on his guitar, the feet stuck to the effects pedals.
Even when the entire planet (or almost) is confined, the San Diego-based trio finds a way to play live. But without an audience, like Pink Floyd's "Live At Pompeii". The precious Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds joined forces with the California Desert Wizard Association to propose an open air festival in the desert (the Mojave one) gathering five local bands: Nebula, Spirit Mother, Mountain Tamer, STONER (the new project of Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri) and of course Earthless. The event was filmed and then declined in five live albums. The one this review is about is the first of them. It is also the longest. And the most insane, obviously.
Its menu that fills only three tracks (for more than 77 minutes!) plunges us with delight into the blessed era of Deep Purple of the early 70's with these live versions stretching to infinity and this way of squeezing an original material to extract an inexhaustible juice. The more the listening advances and the more the durations spread out beyond the reasonable (almost forty minutes for 'Lost In The Cold Sun'!). But Earthless is not a question of reason, it is a question of faith and especially of feeling. In fact, it seems vain to try to detail these three tracks which escape words and descriptions, launching pads towards the inaccessible skies filled with guitar and groovy percussions. As often with the Americans, 'Sonic Prayer' embodies the G point of this incredible sound happening at least as enjoyable as the mythical "Live At Roadburn" (2008).
This "Live In The Mojave Desert" reveals Earthless as they are, propelling their instrumental psychedelic rock to new heights. Even better, the Californians never seem to want or be able to stop, for the greatest pleasure of their fans, filled by such a debauchery of emotions.