CUSTARD FLUX

From the heart of the English countryside via Detroit.

Custard Flux is the new project from Gregory Curvey of The Luck Of Eden Hall. Based in Detroit, it seems a safe bet to guess that Curvey may be something of a musical Anglophile. The premise behind the project is to make music using instruments that don’t require electricity, so that means a lot of Harmonium, acoustic guitars, upright bass, and drums. The result is a sound that blends psychedelia and the Canterbury scene with early Genesis and XTC. Happily, Curvey’s songwriting is strong enough that while he wears his influences on his sleeve – in the track Golden Opportunity he sings about watching Soft Machine in a field – Helium is full of memorable melodies. The folky Forevermore is lovely with Curvey sounding like a young Peter Gabriel, and La Mort is just lush with its overlapping guitar parts. The only production quibble would be the slightly flabby drum sound, but Curvey has made an album full of warmth and whimsy. Helium is available in a one-disc edition or in a fancy box set that comes in an actual wooden box with a lyric booklet and a bonus fivetrack disc that includes a cover of Lou Reed’s Satellite Of Love.