It's a Lonely Planet

Photon Band have mined some pretty trippy sonic spaces over their last few releases, but there was nothing on those records that would indicate the psychedelic depths the band would plunge into while creating It’s a Lonely Planet, their fourth full-length release for Darla Records. This album is definitely science fiction. T. Rex (alluded to in the song “It’s a Lonely Planet,”), Syd Barrett, Bowie, and Hendrix, are all reflected here in Art Difuria’s twangy spaced-out soundscapes, but the real guiding influence is outer space itself. Difuria is concerned with questions asked while gazing up at the night sky, and the big question of where we come from and where we might be headed runs like a breezy wisp of cloud throughout this entire album. The fact that the band can still handle straight-ahead rock is apparent when you hit songs like “Indirection (school),” and the appropriately named “OuterSpace,” but for those with an aversion to psychedelic wanderings, be forewarned that these more straightforward songs are few and far between. It’s a Lonely Planet is not an easy listen, but for anyone interested in revisiting the psychedelic era, this recording contains more than a healthy dose of the classic art rock psychedelic meanderings that made the best music of that genre worth putting on headphones and tuning into. – Terrance Miles