SANTA PLANTA ~ FROM THE TRAILS OF DESIRE .... review

Those days of listening to a new album and immediately sitting down at a keyboard in order to write a review are sadly long gone, in these days of AI the first thing we reviewers have to do, to ascertain a band is a bona-fide collection of flesh and blood musicians and not just the creation of an individual feeding data into a programme, is to check through the makers of said albums social media and web sites to see if they are who they claim to be, that they are gigging and have traceable members who may or may not have worked on other projects. Thankfully all that extra research is not needed for the subject of this review as Spanish psych/stoner doomsters Santa Planta, Lorena Zamora Blanco (drums/vocals); Guillermo Marcos Feijóo (bass) and Dani Roldán-Cuartero (guitar/keyboards/vocals), were already known to us at Desert Psychlist thanks to us having had the privilege of reviewing the bands self-titled EP "Santa Planta" on these very pages, a review in which we described them as "full of promise and one to keep our eyes and ears on in the future". That promise has now been realised in the shape of their first full length album "From The Trails Of Desire", a truly desirable release.

"Seeds" kicks off Santa Planta's debut with eerie keyboards parping doomily over minimal percussion and behind low basement level bass before being joined by crunchy guitar textures over which dual vocals deliver a ritual flavoured chant, the song lasts just under three minutes but it serves its purpose by setting the tone for all that is to follow, "Santa Planta", the song that gives the band their name, is next, the song boasts a deliciously seductive lysergic feel in its early stages but then soon evolves into a low slow stoner-doomic dirge with the vocals following a similar trajectory, hazy and melodic  initially but moving up to an impassioned clean wail as the song progresses. "Acid Conclave" rears its head next and here we find Santa Planta melding orchestral like keyboard flourishes with dank dark doomic riffage supported by sparse but thunderous drumming over which soaring and confidently sung lyrics tell a tale of pyramids and priestesses. If you are not convinced yet about Santa Planta's psychedelic credentials then next song "The Dance (Interlude)" should swing the deal, its heady yet restrained drum and bass groove is further enhanced by liquid like guitar textures and sampled narration discussing the physical and spiritual aspects of dancing, its trippy. left of centre and strangely beautiful. Penultimate number "Waves" finds Santa Planta getting their Colour Haze groove on, the song a sprawling opus with an undulating rhythmic quality, much in keeping with its title, that is overlaid with fractured chord voicings and shimmering lead work, it's accompanying vocals a mix of wordless wails and soulful croons. Having mesmerised us with their lilting psych the band now go for the throat with "Ten Thousand Year Plan" a grainy and fuzz drenched, bass heavy riff monster augmented by swirling keyboards that is only just anchored to ground zero by solid tight industrious drumming, vocals here clean angsty and at times gloriously manic.

Santa Planta have, with "From The Trails Of Desire", not only delivered on the promise and potential they showed via their self-titled EP, they have surpassed it. They are now not a band we should be keeping an eye on for the future , they are now a band other young bands should be striving to emulate. 

Check 'em out......

© 2024 Frazer Jones