Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Blue Heron dropped their debut record, Ephemeral, in 2022. I remember briefly listening to it at the time, but it didn’t leave much of an impression. Dipping in again now, I think that was very much a Me Problem because Ephemeral was a solid slab of desert stoner rock, tinged with both blues and grunge. And I slept on it. Stoner is a genre mired in mediocrity but, for me, when a band hits its stride, it’s so goddamned satisfying. Bands like Kyuss, whom we’ll be hearing more about below,1 had this ability to just carry me away, born on the languid desert winds. Now back with their sophomore record, Everything Fades, whatever sort of journey Blue Heron wants to take me on, it’s one I’m determined not to sleep on!
On Everything Fades, Blue Heron picks up where they left off. And why not? They set themselves a great base to build on and have done so in every respect. Most of the material falls slap bang in the middle of a sand-swept bridge, leading between the lands of Kyuss and Sleep. Huge, distended guitars from Mike Chavez (ex-Spiritu) rumble and flow across a world drowning in reverb and languid melodies, while Steve Schmidlapp’s bass thrums its way through the open dunes. There’s also more than a bit of early Clutch (opener, “Null Geodesic”) and Orange Goblin (closer, “Flight of the Heron”) infusing the smoky sound on show. Not satisfied with the desert, however, Blue Heron skilfully weaves in Dirt-era Alice in Chains (particularly on “Swansong”), adding extra depth to their songwriting. The star of the show, however, is singer Jadd Schickler (also ex-Spiritu), who shows himself to be hugely versatile. His vocals range from a beautifully rich, bourbon-drenched husk that evokes Sleep’s Al Cisneros and early-career Neil Fallon, to a delicate bluesy style, which was uncannily familiar.2
Everything Fades by Blue Heron
Everything Fades truly kicks off the moment that Schickler’s gritty voice is first unleashed. After that, Blue Heron never looks back. The Kyuss worship is both clear and very well done (“Dinosaur” and “Trepidation”) but there’s a lot more going on than that. Both Jam Room-era Clutch and the rougher edge of early Down, or even Neurosis, shine through in places. It’s the title track that showcases Blue Heron’s absolute best, as the song glides effortlessly from Kyuss’ desert blues, Ricardo Sanchez’s drums awakening slowly from a sun-drenched daydream, to kick off into big, Orange Goblin stoner territory. At the three-minute mark, Schickler drops down from his coarse bellow, which perfectly tweeters on the verge of cracking, to a delicate croon, which reminded me most of Mark Lanegan.
Coming in at a tight 38 minutes, there is very little fat on Everything Fades, which is a welcome surprise for a stoner record.3 Indeed, Blue Heron show themselves to be very talented songwriters, with nearly everything they try coming off, feeling fluid, organic, and crucially, effortless. It has to be said that “Clearmountain” feels a bit light on ideas and notably weaker than the rest of the songs, with Schickler’s normally stellar voice also feeling like it’s straining. However, the lyrics for that track properly got me for some reason, as Schickler husks “Don’t stand upon my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep, I am the thousand winds that blow.”4 That slight misstep apart, the thing that really holds back Everything Fades is the production. At a shocking DR2, it often sounds shallow and crushed, with the drums eating up the space that should be available for the guitars (see “Bellwether” and “Flight of the Heron,” in particular). This is a real shame as Sanchez’s work behind the kit is solid and I love Chavez’s guitar tone, which sounds mellow and organic.
With Everything Fades, Blue Heron has improved on Ephemeral, showing themselves to be skilled songwriters. The songs flow and the album is at that perfect length where each time the last notes of “Fight of the Heron” fade out you’re left wanting just a little bit more. Undoubtedly a very good record, if Everything Fades had better production, it could easily have been a great one.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 2 | Format Reviewed: V0 VBR mp3
Label: Blues Funeral Recordings
Websites: blueheronabq.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/blueheronabq
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024
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