I don’t know about you, but I’m much more likely to be drawn in by a band that chooses to release two of their albums in Russia only and headlines Copenhagen anarchist enclaves rather than announce their new release at an NME club night in Camden.
Ironically, enigmatic Edinburgh breakbeat-blues practitioners MYSTERY JUICE have actually just played an intimate EP launch gig in Camden, but the Russian and Danish ventures are all true, as is the fact their singer/ violinist Tim Matthew is a highly-sought after sound engineer who’s previously sorted the knobs and faders for renowned north of the border names such as James Yorkston, King Creosote and Sons & Daughters.
He’s in cahoots with rhythm section Donald Hay and Joe Peat, plus guitarist Donald MacDougall in Mystery Juice and I, for one, am very happy they've collectively chosen to release this new EP in the UK as well as the band’s more arcane territories for it’s an engagingly eclectic beast to take to yer bosom.
‘Hurt You, Hurt Me’ is a suitably abrasive initial jolt. A scuzzy, obstinate swamp blues with gruff’ n’ grizzly vocals, it’s raw and rudimentary in the way all great rock’ n’ roll’s supposed to be. Its cousin first removed is probably the third tune, ‘God Told Adam’: a Led Zep-ish psych boogie fulla skirly violin which turns the accepted idea of creation squarely on its head.
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Then, just when you think you might have got their measure, they slink past you with the unashamedly funky ‘Song for the Rural Dispossessed of Scotland.’ If it’s not enough for you that it boasts one of the year’s best titles and sounds like an unholy alliance of Shriekback and Milk Kan, then its chorus line (“every year it gets a little smaller, every year we work a little harder”) nails it once and for all. Ace though it is, it’s arguably bettered by the closing title track: surely the punkiest and most blood-thirsty thing here, it even indulges in a proper, plotted guitar solo. A rarity these days, for sure, and something to savour.
Mystery Juice, then, offer us a rare, full-bodied and highly tempting elixir. I'm only too happy to volunteer for a pint of whatever it is they’re having.
Preview the EP at Bandcamp
Mystery Juice Facebook page
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