John K – Deep Blue

The first chunk of solo work from the ex-Floods Of Colour guitarist, John K, can only be described as dreamy, or dream-ish, or maybe even dream-a-licious. Waves of soft synths interlock and wash over you before the gentle guitar hook, the continual highlight of the song, emerges out of the psychedelic deep to drive the wholly instrumental track forward. From this point on, Deep Blue doesn’t enter any noticeably new or different phases, instead it chooses to evolve gradually over its four minute run time, with each individual ambient texture or gentle melody getting its moment in the spotlight. It sounds like the soundtrack to something summery but mournful, like an episode of Skins where one of the characters gets cancer but they all go skating and bond in the end.

The song might not really go anywhere, but it’s a promising start from John and hopefully we’ll be hearing more complex contributions from him over the next year. That being said, sometimes the biggest problem in psychedelic music is over thinking on the artist’s behalf. Instead of swamping the listener with walls of guitars and Brian Eno-ish bleeps, John K chooses to keep his ideas focused and simple. This track won’t be winning any awards for innovation, but it’s a great song to soundtrack the montage of sweet summer laziness that really should be embodying everyone’s life right now.