Empty House: The Golden Hour

Of all the underground purveyors across the U.K., there’s a valid argument that few offer sonic possibilities quite like Fred Laird.

Under the Empty House moniker, over the past three years the chaotic enthusiast has sculptured a unique brand of collage psychedelia, intersecting different sound worlds where wild colours and images override sound.

Last year’s Secret Suburbia was an album of the spit and crackle variety. A melting pot of fresh ideas, and whilst perhaps a drop in gears compared to predecessor – the excellent 2022 LP, The Rituals of Romance – over time Secret Suburbia really sinks into the bones, underlining just how meticulous and accomplished it is.

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Laird returns in 2024 with another dose of the good oil with The Golden Hour – another fantastical mind-map of sound, revealing itself more and more with each listen. Cosmic meanderings that are like fairy dust sprinkled from the sky, and it begins with Ramen Roll.

The track is everything its title suggests. A funky, eastern drone, so upbeat and infectious that (believe it or not) flirts with the dance floor. Perhaps that’s the only time Laird will, however that’s the beauty of Empty House. It’s a journey into the unknown, and it continues during the title track – a sunrise swoon lighting up new pathways ahead.

Which is where Magnetic World awaits. With a range of feel-good sonics, Laird concocts a wicked wonder of psych-rock and funk through the miasma of kraut rock. An electric dream of vague images of the past.

That union of outer-world influences continues on Invisible Juju – a meandering space rock jam with West African rhythms pulsating underneath the mix. So too on the slow-motion Can worship of Jerusalem Road, which presents as some grainy lost soundtrack from the ’70s.

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Then there’s the spicy, snake charming serenade of Tamerlane. A cut that could have found its way onto Grails’ Burning Off Impurities; a complete contrast to Bones of the Golden Loom. Here Laird dials down the bedlam with a meditative composition with scent filling the nostrils as cavernous synths echo around the wide-open spaces of a new spiritual world.

Prior to ending with the tame interlude of Night Closure, there’s one final blast of galactic noise with Ulro Sings the Shadow. An atmosphere peppered with heady riffs and syncopated rhythms once again inspired by the kraut rock greats.

And whilst reaching into the past, Larid once again showcases an unbridled talent to sound both fresh and ancient, somehow managing to navigate through a shamanic haze where technicolour images overload the mind. All told, it’s open source psychedelia. Everything is here, and despite the shape-shifting that will undoubtedly continue in the months ahead, currently The Golden Hour stacks up alongside Empty House’s finest work so far.

The Golden Hour is out Friday via Echodelick / Worst Bassist Records.