I would have to say that the use of Laudanum and Asylum in both their name and the title of the album are very telling. From Belgium comes this three piece band that hits you like a LSD flashback. Imagine taking The Flower Kings, XTC, CSN&Y a little Simon & Garfunkel and just a dash of Pink Floyd, blend this all together and you get the idea of what Laudanum Forest is all about. They are a trippy, psychedelic group that seems to have stepped into Peabody and Sherman's wayback machine and emerged somewhere about 1968.
This retro approach has a certain charm to it for anyone who was around the first time the hippies and flower children made their appearance. Adding a few modern techniques and some heady keyboard work by Stefen Saenen this disc is a calming and soothing trip that you would have to call far out and groovy.
With the folky "Snail", Laudanum Forest starts off this trip that Carlos Castaneda proud. Like something from one of his visions this song moves through a few different styles with cathedral bells and some trippy guitar fueling your travels.
From there you take you on a very mellow ride with the title track "The Asylum". This one is another out of the ordinary AOR bit with some space cadet moments thrown in. The very proggy second half of the song has some very cool musical passages and shows that this band does have the talent to produce better than average songs.
Then they take another left turn with "The Witch" where some dynamic piano playing turns into a popish bit of ear candy that falls into the category of glorified elevator music. This is the main problem with the disc, too much of the music ends up with this description.
One of the heavier tracks, at least for part of the song is "Only One". This one has a mixture of acoustic and electric that reminds me of the group Big Star. For me this is one of the highlights of the disc as there is such a dynamic to the music it is really hard to resist. By adding some powerful keyboards you have a winner!
This is not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination. There is some good stuff and some so-so. Too much of the disc reminds me of a time that I can barely remember in the first place. Say hello to Woodstock and Height/Ashbury as Laudanum Forest is heading back to them one more time. Have a good trip!
Track listing:
1. Snail
2. The Asylum
3. The Witch
4. Scrooging Away
5. Once I Came
6. Checkpoint Incarnation
7. Only One
8. Breeding
9. A Second Part Of Time
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