It’s one thing to have founded a notable band dedicated to exploring the possibilities of psychedelic exploration in many different sounds and styles. But it’s arguably pretty darn rare to have done it, as Jeffrey Alexander has, four separate times. First emerging with the Iditarod in the mid-1990s before a later world oversimplified their sound as ‘freak folk,’ then making an even bigger splash with the experimentation of the majestic Black Forest/Black Sea in the 2000s, you’d be forgiven for thinking Alexander had settled into things with the feedback grooves of Dire Wolves, founded over fifteen years ago and still running.
But 2020 brought forth another incarnation in the form of the Philadelphia-based Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders, joined by local legends like Kohoutek’s drummer Scott Verrastro and Drew Gardner and Jesse Shepherd of the exploratory guitar duo Elkhorn. With the help of any number of friends and guests live and on record, they’ve already released plenty across the first half of this decade as the world went through any number of upheavals. Once more they’re here to provide some needed balm in the form of their sixth formal album effort, Synchronous Orbit, released jointly on May 9, 2025 by the Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube labels. With three lengthy songs showcasing their interwoven skills both in studio and live settings, Synchronous Orbit finds the Heavy Lidders once more, given the appropriate album title, aiming for a beautiful trip into outer space and in the inner mind.
“Albums that contain both live tracks and studio tracks are early formative touchstones for me,” says Alexander. “Like Eat A Peach or Anthem Of The Sun or Wheels Of Fire, or even Joy Divison’s Still. Or just simply Smiths 12″s that I collected in the 80s with live tracks on the flipside. I love the combination of particular energies that can be captured in various settings. They are wildly different but with similar parts. The album title reflects this with different objects hovering around each other.”
Synchronous Orbit kicks off with a look back in the form of a newly-released early version of a song from their New Earth Seed album “Star Power,” in its lengthy ‘Sun Flower’ mix. With a name like that the Heavy Lidders could have easily burned across the heavens, but “Star Power” is a perfect easy ramble of a jam, a warm glow not a supernova. There’s guest percussion from Ryan Jewell and, in a lovely matching of voices with Alexander, a wonderful turn from the legendary Kate Wright, famed for her work in the Bristol UK acts Movietone and Crescent. Plenty of space unfolds for a sweetly trippy midsection as the players do their thing, with Wright and Alexander’s vocals returning to help wrap up the trip.
“This is my home demo mix that was cast aside when I hired a producer for the last LP,” Alexander explains. “And that’s fine! The version that was released on New Earth Seed is excellent and contains many of the original tracks, but with the addition of a lot of the producer’s extra guitar parts that I wouldn’t have gone for myself. It’s cool – it’s just different, slick, very produced. I wanted to get the original version out into the world – it’s crunchier, more ’73 than ’93. I specifically invited Kate and Ryan to contribute based on the song – the song always comes first.”
“Bernal Afterburn” is next, nodding to Alexander’s time spent in San Francisco where Dire Wolves are still officially based. The core quartet again keep the calm but never cool vibes leading into a steady slow-building burn, guitar parts pouring over each other like glowing layers of honey with Verrastro’s drumming both keeping pace and gently altering tempos and intensity.
“I lived in Bernal for all of my 40s,” remembers Alexander, “when I worked in SF museums, when Dire Wolves started to take off, when I had kids. A truly great decade of my life and it was hard to leave SF to be honest. I moved back east when I was 50 and started up the Heavy Lidders; this particular jam had a sort of vibe that reminded me of Bessie Street and the lingering feelings of loss.”
Synchronous Orbit concludes with its longest track at twenty minutes, taken from a live show at the Milwaukee Psych Festival in May 2024. “Plastistone Circle (Slight Return)” would be strong enough as it is, the quartet’s ear for improvisation and exploration well in hand throughout. But there’s a heck of a wonderful wild card factor in the form of 21st century jazz experimenter Isaiah Collier, contributing not merely saxophone but bullhorn and bird calls – a real menagerie of sound. His performances add both depth and even more energy to the proceedings, never simply a rampage outward even at his fiercest, but embracing the sense of community and participation in the performance – an expansion of the possibilities.
“The title is a nod that I made to the absurdity of man-made garbage being somehow revered in a mystical way,” Alexander notes. “Pseudo-cosmic, like this shit timeline. Plus a Hendrix hat tip, of course! I sent Isaiah some recordings and notes but he didn’t read them or listen to anything. I met him in person for the first time about five minutes before we went on stage. But he was feeling it – we all were – and the collective improvisation at this performance was really special. It was an honor to perform with him and I look forward to our next collaboration!”
Where Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders go from here will yet be revealed, and doubtless there’s more to come very soon indeed. But here’s another example of why more long strange trips will be just what is needed about now and always, with Synchronous Orbit showing exactly how those trips can send you far beyond.
Ned Raggett, February 2025
