7/10
From the first needle-scratch fuzz bomb to the final feedback-laced fadeout, 'Faxing the Vatican' makes one thing clear: Acid Smoothie is not here to tidy up the edges. Instead, bandleader Paul Dunne offers up a 30-minute psych-rock headtrip that’s as unfiltered as a smoke-filled basement jam and as deliberate as a razor blade in a cassette deck.
Rather than clean up the chaos, Dunne leans hard into it. Each track on the album oozes warped analogue charm, with jagged riffs, volatile percussion, and vocals that feel yelled into a malfunctioning payphone. There’s no chase for polish here. Instead, Dunne captures the frayed electricity of lo-fi punk ethos, all while injecting enough melodic trickery to keep things from collapsing entirely. Think Ty Segall on a comedown in a VHS repair shop.
Lyrically, Dunne juggles themes of outdated tech and existential dread with a deadpan delivery that feels almost too casual for the metaphysical weight he’s sneaking in. There’s a through-line of haunted nostalgia here, the uncomfortable sort that lives in dusty thrift store corners and drawerfuls of unread letters. It’s poetry buried beneath distortion, and half the fun is catching it before it disintegrates.
The production is beautifully busted. Made entirely in his own room, the record retains the gritty intimacy of a late-night demo tape. The guitars are stacked like tectonic plates, threatening to erupt at any moment. Rhythms stutter and surge, dragging you through tempo changes like a busted rollercoaster. It’s chaotic, yes, but never random.
While Dunne clearly shares bloodlines with garage-psych trailblazers like Thee Oh Sees and King Gizzard’s scrappier moments, 'Faxing the Vatican' avoids mimicry by virtue of sheer personality. It’s equal parts snarl and smirk, where every track feels like it could fall apart at any second, and that’s precisely what makes it compelling.
There are no radio singles here, no playlist pleasers; just a warped, lo-fi thrill ride that feels like it was built to melt speakers and dislodge complacency. 'Faxing the Vatican' is a triumph of instinct over polish, a joyously gnarly howl into the void. For anyone craving music that sounds like it’s actively resisting the algorithm, Acid Smoothie just delivered your new favourite misfit masterpiece.
