Review BLUE HERON ‘Ephemeral’

When the sun rises over the New Mexico desert, another hot day is about to dawn. This is exactly the right setting for stoner rock. Blue Heron from Albuquerque, New Mexico are used to these conditions and as soon as the temperature rises above 30 degrees Celsius, not only the daily routine slows down but also the music.

Blue Heron make this their own and pull a new album out of the hat, which is an ode to slow rhythms. Stoner, doom and sludge unite under the heat of New Mexico to an irresistible cocktail.

There are eight stoner anthems on their new album ‘Ephemeral’. Blue Heron is reminding of Kyuss without copying the pioneers of stoner rock. The spectrum of the four Americans is broad. While the calm ‘Infiniton Field’ comes across like a musical mirage, the bundled stoner rock power is unleashed in ‘Futurola’.

Interesting is the wide framework that Blue Heron put themselves. ‘Where One went Together’ is an acoustic track that stands out from the rest of the album and yet fits into the musical concept of the quartet. The little masterpiece on ‘Ephemeral’, however, is called ‘Sayonara’. The 13-minute flagship song is number two on the track list and slowly but steadily rolls into the listener’s ear canals. Ponderous and fascinating, the song shows the greatness of well-forged stoner rock. You can feel the burning sun rays on your skin as you surrender to the sounds of ‘Sayonara’. It’s like being pulled into a fever dream, which reveals unreal and at the same time fascinating soundscapes.

Blue Heron deliver with their debut an album that impresses. Rarely has stoner rock had such intensity and been so impactful at the same time.