Spirit Mother “Cadets” 2020. Polymer Records. Heavy psych space rock. Spirit Mother Armand Lance on guitar, bass and vocals, Landon Cisneros on drums, Sean McCormick on drums along with Sarah Jane Long on violin. Had I not known it was violin, I’d definitely think that the crazy spaced-out sounds accenting the tracks on this LP were from experimental keyboard noodling. From their Bandcamp: “jangly, heavy and rhythmic with violin ominous, out front and present.” Accurate though I think the violin could have been even more prominent (though the closing track “Bajorek” is basically a violin solo). Violin is pretty up front on one of my top songs, the relatively rocking “Martyrs” (it’s still a total stoner rock track). I also like the jangle-forward “My Head is Sinking” (only a live version is available to link and its much less jangly than the Cadets version) the richly dark “Black Sheep” and the extra mind-bending duo “Shape Shifter 1″ and Shape Shifter II.” 

Cadets is Spirit Mother’s first LP and it doesn’t look like any of the band members have been in other groups, at least after an non-exhaustive glance on Discogs. They released a live record in 2021 that has several of the songs from Cadet called Live in the Mojave Desert Volume 3. That record is part of series on Giant Rock Records, all recorded live and filmed in the natural amphitheater of California’s Mojave Desert and backed by a visual performance from the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show. Other bands appearing on the series include Earthless, Nebula, Mountain Tamer and Stöner.