THE BEVIS FROND - FOCUS ON NATURE

Released: 01/03/24

If you’re into The Byrds and Comet Gain-esque jangle pop, but haven’t heard of the cult UK post-psych band The Bevis Frond (TBF), then boy is new LP Focus on Nature a treat. Formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Nick Saloman, TBF have influenced everyone from Lemonheads to Pavement to Dinosaur Jr, and are truly one of those bands that, like coeval UK peers such as Felt and Douglas Pearce’s Death in June, are massively under-appreciated. In TBF’s case (as with Death in June), it may simply be that Saloman’s preoccupation with esoteric English folk is a little abstruse for the majority of jangle pop aficionados. 

But this is their loss, because Focus on Nature is seventy-five minutes of remarkable music that spans 60s psych, English folk, Big Star, Seattle punks The Wipers, the aforementioned art-pop of Pavement, the mellow harmonies of late period Teenage Fanclub, and even Hendrix-esque explorations – proving that, despite almost four decades into his career, Saloman’s slanted (and enchanted) take on leftfield psych has never sounded better.