Hear Opal Eskar’s new psychedelic groove, “Open Mind!”
On May 19, Opal Eskar—the trio of Karl Blau, Heyward Howkins and Chet Delcampo, joined by The War on Drugs‘ Charlie Hall and Robbie Bennett—release their self-titled debut EP via Spiral Valley. The members each have a long background in making music, Blau as a solo artist and collaborator of The Microphones, and Delcampo and Howkins each as a solo artist, as well as the latter’s work in choral group The Silver Ages. Today, they’ve shared a new song from their debut EP, “Open Mind!” and It’s a breezy jam with a deep bass groove and hazy, psychedelic melodic elements, eventually rising up into a chorus of conga beats and thick, syrupy synthesizer. It’s just the right amount of hallucinatory, which pairs well with its themes of opening the doors of perception.
“The song is a barrage of suggestions on how one could open one’s mind,” said Karl Blau in a statement. “It’s like a ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ sound sandwich.”
Opal Eskar’s Chet Delcampo adds, “The musical core of ‘Open Mind’ was quickly grabbed out of the air on the first day of tracking with me, Heyward, Charlie, and Robbie playing in the room with the tape rolling. Karl’s vocals came later.”
Listen to Opal Eskar’s “Open Mind!” below, and pre-order the EP here.
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.