Schizo Fun Addict – Desolate Ecstasy Review

Psychedelic Shoegaze, No Wave Dreams and One of the Coolest Lyric Sheets I’ve Seen

There is a very good chance that many of you may not know who Schizo Fun Addict are, but this is exactly the kind of release that Now Spinning Magazine exists to talk about. Not everything can be a deluxe box set by a name we already know. Sometimes the joy is in taking a chance, dropping the needle, and finding yourself somewhere completely unexpected.

The album is called Desolate Ecstasy, and it is released by Fruits de Mer Records. That alone will tell some of you that we are heading into psychedelic waters, but even by Fruits de Mer standards, this is a wonderfully strange, addictive and hard-to-file record.

Before I get into the music, I have to mention the physical package. The sleeve is very glossy, with an abstract cover image, while the back has this lovely retro feel with a cassette and VU meter imagery. The vinyl itself is a glorious pink colour, and my copy is numbered 100 out of 200.

But the real surprise is the lyric sheet. It is printed on acetate. Yes, acetate. You almost miss it at first because it is transparent, but once you realise what it is, it becomes one of those lovely physical-media moments where you think, “That is cool.” It is playful, unusual and totally in keeping with the personality of the album.

My one small criticism of the packaging is that I would have liked a picture of the band on the sleeve, even if it had just been on the back. With a band like this, especially one that many people may not know, I think seeing the people behind the sound would help draw listeners in. Sometimes Fruits de Mer releases can feel as if they have emerged from some mysterious psychedelic laboratory, and this one does have that element of mystery. But Schizo Fun Addict are a band, and they look like a band with character, humour and a strong visual personality.

The group’s story goes back many years. Schizo Fun Addict are associated with New Jersey, but their roots also stretch back to Manchester, with Jet Wintzer and Jayne Gabriel at the centre of the story. The wider band orbit includes Jayne Gabriel, Jet Wintzer, Rex John Shelverton, Ilona V / Ilona Curtis and Daniel Boivin. On this album, the sound is built around Jayne Gabriel and Ilona Curtis’ double female vocal presence, Rex John Shelverton’s huge shoegaze guitar textures and tape-saturated production, Daniel Boivin’s propulsive drums, and Jet Wintzer’s SH-101 synth colour.

And what does it sound like?

That is where it gets interesting.

This is not an album of obvious verse-chorus-middle-eight songs that you walk away humming after one listen. In fact, I have played this album every single day for the last two weeks, sometimes two or three times a day, and I still find it difficult to pull out individual songs in the usual way. That may sound like a criticism, but it really is not.

Desolate Ecstasy works as a feeling. It creates a world. It is psych, shoegaze, no wave, dream pop, dubby groove music, 60s jangle, and late-night rock and roll all blurred together. The songs move around you rather than stand neatly in front of you. It is hazy, strange, groovy, melodic, slightly dangerous and very, very addictive.

The guitars are the key for me. Whatever direction my taste in music goes in, guitars are still at the heart of so much of what I connect with, and this album has that wonderful late-60s psychedelic shimmer, but filtered through a much more modern, woozy, shoegaze lens. The guitar sound seems to hover and ripple across the record, but it never becomes background texture. It is always doing something. It is always pulling you further in.

The vocals are equally important. I love the female vocal sound on this album. There is something of 60s girl-group drama in there, but also something colder, stranger and more art-rock. It is not simply retro; it feels like those influences have been pulled apart and rebuilt in a dream.

The rhythm section gives it a lot of its hypnotic pull. There is a dubby, trance-like feel to the bass and drums at times, and that is why the album keeps calling me back. It does not reveal itself in a straightforward way. It seeps in. You play it once, then you play it again, and then suddenly it has become part of the atmosphere in the room.

Tracks like “Coming To You” and “Tease Murderess” really stood out for me, not because they suddenly become conventional singles, but because they have such a strong mood and identity. “Tease Murderess,” in particular, has this dark, mischievous edge to it, almost like the album ending with a warning smile.

The press release talks about 80s no wave, 60s psych, shoegaze guitars, The Shangri-Las, Nico, Brasil ’66, Laurel Canyon and a whole host of other references. That probably sounds excessive, but when you hear the record, you understand why people reach for those kinds of descriptions. It is the only way to get near it. Schizo Fun Addict do not fit neatly into one box. They sound like a band who have absorbed decades of underground music and then decided to make something that only they could have made.

What I also like is that the album is available to stream. With some Fruits de Mer releases, the physical edition can disappear very quickly, and if you miss it, that is that. But here, you can listen first. And I would really recommend doing that. Listen to a few tracks. Let them play. Do not expect instant hooks in the usual sense. Let the sound and atmosphere do their work.

For me, Desolate Ecstasy is one of those records that proves why it is still worth taking chances. It may be obscure, it may be mysterious, and it may not explain itself immediately, but that is part of its charm. This is psychedelic rock and roll with humour, imagination and a very strong sense of identity.

Schizo Fun Addict have made an album that feels like a secret transmission from another corner of the musical universe. It is groovy, strange, guitar-driven, dreamlike and addictive. I would still have put the band photo on the cover, but musically, this has completely won me over.

This is my job, really: to help you take a chance.

So take a chance on Schizo Fun Addict and Desolate Ecstasy. You might just find yourself playing it every day as well.

Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine