However, he's also a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released seven solo albums so far - a fact which utterly failed to attract my notice thus far. This album doesn't exactly set me wailing with regret over all those wasted years spent not listening to his back list, but it certainly shows that Bjork is more than just a whizz at pounding the cymbals - he's a pretty deft songwriter, with a surprising flair for funk and psychedelia, and perhaps a somewhat lighter touch than the bands he has been asociated with in the past. He still brings the riffs - it's just that the emphasis is more on groove and pulse than on creating a shimmering, heavy wall of fuzzy sound (not that groove and pulse are in any way outside the ambit of stoner rock). In a sense you might say that he seems to have charted a similar trajectory to former bandmate Josh Homme, who used to crank out the riffage with Kyuss, and whose own band (which you already know the name of, right? Right.) has moved from a very Kyuss-like sound to something softer, more stripped down and maintream-friendly.

Indeed, there are moments when Bjork's combination of retro stylings and hookiness produces a too-smooth blandness, as on 'Oblivion', or some of the less inspired passages on 'Freaks Of Nature'. But he's not just a competent and ever so boring Lenny Kravitz type - as proven by songs like 'Love Is Revolution' which is an infectious, ardent boogie stomp, or 'Ultimate Kickback',  which sounds like it could have had its genesis in a Jimi Hendrix jam during Hendrix' incredibly fecund (but mostly posthumously released) last phase, when he'd dropped the white bassist, got back the white drummer and was kicking out some of the funkiest jams ever. And right at the end of the album, Bjork's muse seems to have moved from the Palm Desert dunes to San Francisco, circa LSD, as funky horns and a meandering flute weave their way through 'Lion Wings' and 'Blood In The Gallery'. 'Chinarosa' on the other hand sounds at moments like a flashback from rock music's early proto-psychedelic love affair with vaguely Eastern sounds, complete with hand claps and sitaresque twangs, interspersed with a driving, power chord-based  chorus. It's clear that, where Bjork's music has become less heavy, it has taken on vivid and varied new colours, producing a mix that is not unlike Tribe Of Gypsies' diverse but rocking approach in some respects.

All in all, a strong album that brims over with all those classic rock musical values that mainstream modern rock has made a dying art: solid musicianship, real chops, imagination, a sense of music history combined with originality and a carefully-honed talent for songwriting. It doesn't stretch out as often as I'd have liked, but Brant Bjork and his Bros have a groovy thing going here. And I probably should get around to hunting down his previous solo work.



Year of Release: 2007
Label: Duna Records