Hand on heart, it’s very rare that the quality of a Press Release determines whether or not I review a song or album but in this case Elin from Klorofyll Records’ missive was simply spot on; short, to-the-point and interesting. Perhaps we should set up a sideshow, reviewing press releases.
Marble Mammoth is a Stockholm-based psych quartet with members from numerous other bands. If I read Elin correctly their members have also toured with bands such as The Libertines, The Hellacopters and The MC5. I interpret that as meaning in support acts rather than as members.
The song is about striving to achieve your dreams in such a way that you want to reach so high that the sun can lick your mind, so you feel free of whatever is holding you back. Yeah man, right on.
I don’t think it’s going to replace ‘The Impossible Dream’ as the anthem for such aspiration but it is certainly inspirational.
It starts off in a way which distinctly reminds me of Traffic’s ‘Hole in my shoe’ and for a moment I was singing “I looked in the sky where a mammoth’s eye was looking at me from a bubble gum tree” and imagining our band playing this at Monterrey Pop in ‘67 through a haze of illicit smoke.
After that it changes direction into something that early Pink Floyd might have come up with, in the Syd Barrett era. Indeed there is the merest hint of ‘See Emily Play’ in it minus the strong melody but then MM immediately remedy that with a striking tune of their own as if they’d been looking for one since they started.
The bridge comes by way of a short, simple fuzzy guitar break at around the two-minute mark after which there appears to be an almighty time signature change but on reflection it’s just a matter of the song suddenly slowing down into a Take That-like chant, like an aircraft going into a rapid descent for landing, and which persists until the end.
The first time I listened to it I wasn’t convinced but ultimately ‘Have the Sun…’ is like that favourite film where you find something new every time you watch it. The band cleverly play around with different styles, both mainstream and unconventional, overlaying with their own, and by accident or design conjure up a track which satisfies many of the requirement for radio airplay while still being that bit different.