Dennis Hopper Choppers - Be Ready

There are fundamentally two sides to Ben Nicholls’ latest incarnation of DHC: that of the lonesome wanderer, singing forlorn desert-bleached odes to loss, replete with subtly disturbing melodies, and that of the wide-eyed psychic explorer, manifested in the form of steamrolling riffs and eccentric explosions of organ. Individually, these are both charmingly alluring personas but when they collide, the results are sometimes jarring.

Long Trip Home revolves around a pained vocal delivery and sparse guitar, mere hints of acid-robed organ to add colour to the sepia-toned scene set, which works ideally. Contrastingly, Number 1 is an unhinged freakout, instrumentally tangled and exciting, only Nicholls’ gravelly croon remaining to link it to earthly concerns. This also works. Where it lags is when there is no clear focus and a musical conflict of interests occurs, the restrained dignity of one conflicting with the wanton abandon of the other, but given that these moments are largely clustered together it’s a minor foible that’s all too easy to ignore. [David Bowes]