Approach Tropical Gothclub with an open mind and you might just find it expanded

Tropical Gothclub is a psychedelic side-project from QOTSA and Dead Weather keyboardist/guitarist Dean Fertida

Tropical Gothclub - Tropical Gothclub cover art
(Image: © Third Man Records)

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Literal-minded listeners expecting the new project from Dean Fertita to sound like an unlikely alchemy of Jimmy Buffet and Bauhaus will be disappointed from the off, but approach Tropical Gothclub with an open mind and you may find it expanded further.

Standout track Double Blind – a deliciously trippy ramble through Flaming Lips territory via a detour into Pink Floyd's Fearless – might loom head and shoulders above the rest, but there's plenty to get the serotonin spiking. 

Where Is The Water twists and meanders hazily before shifting into gear with a riff from the Jack White school of thud, while opener Needles is excitable garage rock with a stiff, post-punk edge. 

And over in the kaleidoscopic corner, Wheels Within Wheels flips merrily from one psychedelic landscape to the next and includes a wriggling organ solo that sounds as if it's being squeezed from a tube. All in all, it's quite the adventure. 

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.