Prehistoric power pumped through the stereo to guide the listener on a gorgeously groovy musical journey through far-out feel-good realms beyond the boring constraints of time and space.
It starts with the cosmic fuzz of a distorted signal being beamed directly into your head from the past and future simultaneously. There is a palpable energy that fizzles with a playful and joyous jam that delights in the building buzz of the skitter and strum of the strings. As the track finally coalesces the dancing drums, bubbling bass, and echoing stab of the core refrained melody is soon joined by the vocals which set the mood and setting for the story to come.
Lyrically the track is a delight, it is artfully abstract but with a cohesive and accessible message that transcends the titillatingly trippy poetry at its core. The song tells the story of a magical timebong that when smoked transports the user to the past of future that can be dialed in using a keypad on the side of the vessel. While fantastical and a little surreal and silly, the obvious real world conclusions are that spending too much time travelling through time and space leaves the user with little focus and presence in the present.
The production and progression of the track is every bit as expertly energetic and explosive as the instrumentation and interesting journey that it tells. The track grows and evolves exploring the soundscape and never allowing itself to spend too much time lingering or growing stale and stagnant like the smoke rings blown by its titular character. It delights in its deviant dance, never feeling judgmental or condescending, it fully embraces the joy and mystery that the ‘Timebong’ gifts, but also acts as a beckoning call to spend equal amounts of time in the real world.
In terms of genre or classification, Velociraptor exist ecstatically outside of the realms of reality. It is timeless and tastefully both a celebration and callback to the psychedelic prog of the past with the electric buzz of its more modern spin. As a statement of intent it does a great job at introducing the bands ethos and creates a great deal of excitement as to what they might do with the concept album as a whole that is set to release later this year.
