Brant Bjork Brant Bjork Black Viny Edition

Even before you know it’s self-titled, and even before you read the LP liner notes, you know it’s all Brant Bjork.
The man who has become the ambassador of Californian desert rock indeed plays every instrument across his 13th studio full-length, Brant Bjork. This in itself is something of a departure from recent offerings, as on 2018’s Mankind Woman, Bjork worked closely with guitarist Bubba DuPree (Void), and both 2016’s Tao of the Devil and 2014’s Black Power Flower were constructed around the Bjork-led Low Desert Punk Band. Maybe revisiting his 1999 debut, Jalamanta, for a Heavy Psych Sounds 20th anniversary reissue last year had some effect on Bjork’s mindset in terms of working solo, but he’s come too far in the ensuing decades to repeat himself, and the songs on Brant Bjork – recorded and mixed by Yosef Sanborn in Joshua Tree and mixed by John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet) – show that, whether it’s the mellow roll of “Duke of Dynamite” or the signature take on classic heavy rock in “Jesus Was a Bluesman” and percussion-backed funk of opener “Jungle in the Sound.” There’s no mistaking Brant Bjork, and on Brant Bjork, he strips his songwriting style to its core and brings out the organic vibe that’s made him desert rock’s most crucial practitioner.