Photon Band - It's a Lonely Planet

1. Re-entry Burn, 2. It's a Lonely Planet, 3. Outerspace, 4. Out of Synch, Out of Season, Out of Rhyme, Out of Reason, 5. Indirection (school), 6. Paper Plane, 7. Dreamin ii, 8. It's a Beautiful Day, 9. Closer, 10. We Don't Care Anymore

Our ship touches down on a weird piece of turf shared by Barrett, T-Rex, Axis Bold as Love era Hendrix, and Hunky Dory era Bowie, without the previous touches of The Who or Neil Young. Along the way this combination can result in something that sounds more science fictional than anything The Photon Band has ever done before (Title Track, "OuterSpace"), or as alienated, fragile, and just plain weird as solo Barrett or post-breakdown Bryan Wilson ("out of synch", "Closer", "We Don't Care"). But it's not all gloom and psychosis. There's also the Slider-esque "Indirection (school)", the extremely childlike "Paper Plane", and the admittedly whifty flake-rock of "Dreamin ii", all of which contain more than a healthy dose of whimsey.

So this is The Photon Band's Syd Barrett period styled psychedelic record and may be thee psych record of the year by miles. Photon leader Art Difuria has been simultaneously working on a R&B/Stax party record and a hard Mod Pop record too. Art is is still at the University of Delaware, where he is finishing his doctorate in art history and now teaching. The Italian renaissance is his area of expertise. When not immersed in academia he makes time with his own creative calling. No one has down the gestalt of classic rock ‘n’ roll song craft like Art does. It’s delightful, moving and spooky to hear the many "almost familiar", classic hooks and moods he brings together to create these pop masterpieces. The reverence and finesse with which Art evokes the mojo of the The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Neil Young and many other lesser stars makes music heads smile, cheer and hit the repeat button. Art hones this song craft with friend Frizz. All Photon Band material is still entirely written, recorded and mixed by Art on the infamous Frizz Mobile Unit, a vintage 8-track, ¼” tape machine that lives with Art and has helped produce all Photon stuff to date. While The Frizz is like a band member, and it’s complete overhaul has made it’s sound quality hi-fi, we can’t help wonder what it would be like if Art ever got into a recording studio with a good engineer. Look out! It just might happen someday.