The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra is an eclectic quartet classifying themselves as “Newgrass Art-Rock.” So if pedantry surrounding genre qualification is your bag, this album is already for you. If you couldn’t care less about names or titles, it’s likely there’s still something on All Out of Peaches to get your own juices flowing, be it a unique and complex melody or an intricate and precise rhythm. The instrumentation is augmented by the addition of a fiddle to the holy trinity of drums, bass and guitar, which imbue the songs with a Bluegrass-y, Country and/or Western mood whose presence is occasionally felt among the pulsing quasi-prog/fusion elements which are far more of a dominant element in these songs composition. The cover of this album bears a striking resemblance to that Magritte painting (you know, the one with the guy with the apple over his face? ‘The Son of Man’, I think it’s called, but I digress…), so it’s not out of line to imagine a sound similarly surreal.
“Cajun in Spurs” is the first track that actually sounds the way they describe themselves as sounding, i.e. “[A]n eclectic mix of original and traditional bluegrass-edged tunes with jazz and world/fusion elements…Chick Corea meets The Dixie Dregs meets A Prairie Home Companion.” It’s also got crumbs of “Country Pie” sprinkled throughout, a throwback to one of my personally preferred Dylan tunes, while elsewhere Primus influences can be heard on “Five Up Front” in the commanding, grimy, grungy bass line (and the intro to “Minion” is also a page ripped cleanly from the Claypool playbook, both in time and texture.) “The Blaze” is a barn burner, bringing back some of that country twang and fiddle, enough to where I feel they’ve justified their description of themselves.
“Memo” is dizzying and repetitive and droning and difficult to listen to in its entirety. It’s interesting at first but a real relief when it ends. “Paparazzi” on the other hand, is one of the stronger melodies on the album. It’s mournful and has a solid lead-in intro track (“Ruby”) that is vaguely reminiscent of a well-known Phantom of the Opera aria. The sound is more Victorian throw-back than Country, but I prefer it that way anyway.
The name Galactic Cowboy Orchestra was immediately intriguing, but after spending some time with All Out of Peaches, I feel perhaps “Galactic” might be thinking too big. Kuiper Belt Cowboys might be more suitable, as it is situated a little closer to home, familiar territory, et al. By the final track I am ready to rename this band The Les-Vishnu Orchestra, as the sound is more that of the Mahavishnu Orchestra as led by Les Claypool. That is the best way I know to describe how this album finishes itself off. It’s not unpleasant to listen to by any means, but not as out-of-this-world as the name implies.
