The Crystal Teardrop were formed in the Staffordshire town of Stoke-on-Trent in early 2023, a city of five towns famous for its rich history in the pottery industry and known as “The Potteries”. The band were “inspired,” explains Alexandra Rose, “by a mutual passion for the sights, sounds and creative experimentation of the late 1960s.” In addition to Alexandra on lead vocals and guitar, the quintet comprises Leon Jones (guitar, sitar), Stuart Gray (keyboards, Mellotron), Ed Quigley (bass, vocals), and Huw Woodward (drums, percussion). Their much anticipated debut album`…Is Forming` is released to the world this month.
The album’s opening track `Colours Changing` with its vocal harmonies, fuzzy guitars and Mellotron transports you back to a kind of sixties West Coast window when bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Quicksilver Messenger Service were emerging and life was full of hope and promise. The faster paced `Through With You` which its intricate guitar riffs and Hammond organ hues is pretty “out there” and sounds as if you`ve come across a nostalgic sixties tinged number from a late night music channel.
`Borrowed Time` with its 12-string guitar, has a really psychedelic vibe and had me drifting off into thoughts of my own. We have a tale of empowerment built around an insistent guitar riff which underscores the realisation that a final decision is necessary to end a difficult relationship on `The Rain Parade` according to Alexandra. It’s a homage to the Californian band of the same name and the Paisley Underground sound that they briefly shone in.
`Two Hearts` is drenched in a wah-wah guitar sound as is a real dreamy contemplation with some charming shimmering guitar chords. There was a real introspective sense about the slightly melancholic `For One More Day` with its understated but fundamental skewed guitar riffs.
We enjoy a fairly psychedelic journey with the Eastern flavoured `Into the Unknown` with a sitar giving the track a transcendental, divine and mystic essence. Theres a thumping slice of retro power pop with the pulsating `Last Chance` real vintage sixties psychedelia.
The stop-start speedy garage rocker `Turn You Down` has a high resonance percussive tempo and stabbing organ colours throughout. Alexandra explains that `Stealing Suggestions` is a song “inspired by that indefinable feeling of excitement when you meet someone new who is on your wavelength – a meaningful glance across the dancefloor.” It has an enticing rolling rhythmic bass led beat with guitar and organ splashes.
`Nine Times Nine` has a hypnotic trancelike vibe that feels as if it`s drifting in and fading out as it evolves.
The album climaxes with the psychedelic instrumental title track `…Is Forming` which Alexandra describes as “a love letter to Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Embryonic Journey’ but with an overwhelmingly heavier feel.” Although it tipped its hat to the Airplane for me it was more reminiscent of The Doors` `The End` without The Lizard Kings vocals. A delightful enveloping auditory voyage to lead us all out on.
The Crystal Teardrop blend elements of garage rock, folk-rock, power pop and psychedelia into a deliciously engaging creative aural offering that will seep into your psyche if you allow it to. I have to say I was really blown away by this forty plus minutes of musical magic.
As the American psychologist and author Timothy Leary would proscribe `…Is Forming` is an album to “Tune in, Turn on and Drop out” to.
Rating 9/10
