Following on from their eponymously named debut album in 2011, San Francisco band The Green Door have now released a six track EP, Wolf In The Fold. The band took their name from a comment made by Bob Dylan in his 1966 documentary, Don’t Look Back, meaning ‘the concept of a green door standing as an image of mystery enclosing the individual’s perception of the outside world.’
The music of Green Door is a gorgeous blend of the classic garage band mentality with an infusion of raw, rhythmic driving 1960’s psych rock. The sound of the keyboard was an essential part of the sound in late 60’s psych bands and mid 60’s garage bands, always there as a presence, helping to create the feel of the song, but never pushed to the forefront. And it’s this which means Wolf In The Fold wouldn’t have looked out of place had it been released in 1968, with the same jangly guitars and psych mentality, and the band sharing the stage with Country Joe & the Fish. San Francisco down the years has produced a lot of bands in this genre, and Green Door are following in the vapour trail of some mighty bands indeed. This is music which takes the listener on a mesmeric journey back to those halcyon days of garage bands and the Gathering of the Tribes in 1967.
Title track ‘Wolf in the Fold’ evokes the memory of The Seeds and has the kind of feel that wouldn’t look out of place on Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets series. The playing is simple but capturing the essence of garage psych beautifully. Standout tracks such as ‘You Won’t Hear That Anymore’, released as a single, and ‘Tall Grass Is Tangled’ perfectly capture the garage band psych mentality of the 60’s. Closing track ‘Rivers’ comes across like a mix between a prayer and a Gregorian chant. This is a hugely enjoyable album indeed.
