Within the realms of psychedelic rock and adjacent genres, French trio Slift has been one of the most interesting bands to follow over the past decade. Their earlier material fell somewhere between psychedelic rock, garage rock, and space rock while having some nods to the crunchier stoner and desert tones, but over time things have shifted to also incorporate a bit more of a metallic sheen. This shift was most noticeable on 2024’s Ilion, which took the expansive foundation of Ummon and made things heavier and denser with dips into sludge/doom metal territory alongside some darker post rock type build-ups. It was a lofty listen at an hour and nineteen minutes but rewarded those that spent the time to dive beneath the entrancing atmosphere and discover the smaller details. Two years later Slift has returned with Fantasia, which feels like it bridges the gap between their earlier and more recent work while continuing to explore new territory. With the songwriting shifting to a more direct and compact approach, the material offers a wild ride that offers equal amounts of light and darkness.
The title track kicks things off and immediately draws you into the contrasts of light and dark textures. If you were thinking Slift might pivot away from some of the weight and lumbering tonality heard on Ilion, this opener makes it immediately clear these elements are still at the core of what the band is doing on Ilion but what’s layered over top of them gives things a different overall feel. It’s also the longest track on the album at just under nine minutes, and the band uses this to expand outwards methodically with a heavier, lumbering riff that has shimmering spacey melodies layered over top of it. There’s a push and pull between the guitar and bass that give off this sense of exploration and the unknown, and while the sound is dense the track does allow for some natural pauses and shifts in focus around the halfway point. The rest of Fantasia shifts back and forth between the heavier end of the spectrum and more nuanced textures that let the hazier psychedelic and progressive influences take over, but it does so in a more concise manner. What this means is that some of the sprawl has been reigned in, and the riffs ebb and flow in a way that grab you a bit quicker compared to some of the band’s prior work. You’re met with incredible peaks where the layers all come together in ways that are truly mesmerizing on tracks like “A Storm of Wings” and “Orbis Tertius”, but even the softer and more reflective elements of “Waiting Man” stick with you over repeat listens. What struck me the most is that even though there are specific riffs and solos that stood out individually, there’s a consistent flow from beginning to end that fit the narrative of the material and this makes it compelling when experienced in chunks or holistically. How the band achieves this is also different with each piece, as certain elements are very spacey and psychedelic while others feel more grounded in raw emotion and other side of the rock and metal spectrums.
Another significant shift in Slift’s music comes via the vocals and emphasis on the narrative. Ilion had pivoted towards more aggressive singing/yelling and ranges that had just as much in common with bands like Melvins and sludge metal, and the way the vocals echoed and blended in with the instrumentals sometimes made the lyrics a bit harder to pick out. Fantasia comes through like a blend of old and new, as while there are still some more aggressive performances that are full of anger and grit, there has also been a return to the higher pitches and subtleness of the band’s prior material. With this in mind, the vocals have also been mixed in a way that makes them a bit more prominent than before and encourages the listener to really focus on each verse this time around. This is an important aspect of the album to focus on, as Slift has taken the current political and social climate and woven a narrative that explores it through a more fantastical and supernatural lens, which makes tracks like “Corrupted Sky” and “The Village” really stick with you over repeat listens. Where the singing sometimes felt like an extension of the instrumentation to me on past albums, this time it is just as much of a focal point, and this makes the material leave more of an impact.
Given the sprawling lengths and expansive atmosphere of both Ummon and Ilion, it makes sense that Slift would take a step back on their latest album and try something a bit different. But the compactness actually works to the band’s advantage, as they offer material that encourages the listener to sit back and take in the ride from beginning to end. The narrative is compelling, and the band’s continued blend of the spacey, psychedelic, metallic, and everything in between results in moments that are as entrancing as they are thought provoking. Ilion seemed like the type of mammoth effort that would be hard to top, but Fantasia is able to reach similar heights and it’s exciting to hear just how much Slift continues to evolve. Fantasia is available from Sub Pop Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg