Venezia’s New Candys are Stefano Bidoggia: bass, organ, Dario Lucchesi: drums, percussion, Diego Menegaldo: guitars, vocals and Fernando Nuti: guitars, sitar, vocals.

They play “33,3% Rock + 33,3% Roll + 33,4% Psychedelia”.

I first encountered the band whilst reviewing ‘The Reverb Conspiracy Vol. 3‘ back in January, describing their stand out track as follows, “Dysfunctional trip, ‘Meltdown Corp’ by New Candys from Venezia, conjures gorgeously dislocated, psych-soaked abyssal plains.”

I also wholeheartedly concurred with Levitation’s review of the same LP which stated, “Their song ‘Meltdown Corp’ it’s an absolutely jaw dropping track. In fact, I had not heard of them until this, and I was online ordering their album before the song was even over. And then I played the song again. And again.”

I too had ordered their brilliant 2012 debut LP ‘Stars Reach The Abyss‘, along with the exquisite split EP ‘Dark Love / Surf 2‘, (with Treviso’s Kill Your Boyfriend), before I had finished listening to ‘Meltdown Corp’, such was their tentacled embrace on my enraptured psyche.

New LP ‘New Candys As Medicine’ comprises 10 exceptional tracks including the single releases, ‘Dark Love’ and ‘Song For The Mutant’. The album was mixed by Loop’s original drummer/producer John Wills,

Album opener, ‘Thrill Or Trip’ is a dark reverb psychabilly stomp; ‘Song For The Mutant’ ushers languid carefree spirals, tinged with irresistible sitar flavoured, blissed out vocals; Possibly my fave among favourites, ‘Patent Medicine’, is the epitome of evangelical menace; ‘Dark Love’ is hauntingly evocative, sonically dense yet spiritually uplifting; ‘Aphrodite In Leather’, a charging tenebrous ode to unrequited love; Side B gets underway with ‘Overall’, an exhilarating uptempo chord-crashing, kaleidoscopic mantra; ‘Bones On Fire’ is a soothing country folk acoustic, wrapped in an elusive summer of love, vocal flight of fancy; ‘Mess’ bounces back with trance like discordant eloquence, entwined in killer hooks and floating riffs; ‘Jolly Pan’ is a swamp blues jam shuffle for the beat generation; Ensemble finale, ‘Endless Deadline’ brings proceedings to a shuddering euphoric climax, juxtaposing jangling resonance chamber shredding delights…

Semblances of sombre grey clouds in the New Candys’ multiverse, come punctured through with deliriously primal silver linings.

In much the same way that Singapore Sling’s ‘The Tower Of Foronicity’ ticked all the boxes last year, ‘New Candys As Medicine’ achieves a similar genre defying, yet influence defining success. As with Henrik Björnsson, New Candys have distilled the essence of that which hold’s them in it’s spell, fashioning unique fresh textures anew.

“The cover-art for ‘New Candys As Medicine’ was self-made by the band, and attempts to translate the album’s layers of sonic melodies into images with a mixture of different paper and surfaces glued together – the final result being a coordinated chaos – whilst the leitmotif for the album’s imaginary comes from Maya Deren’s surrealistic films together with the Patent Medicines’ period, when drugs compounds were sold pretending to be medications with exclusive ingredients.”

I asked the New Candys a few questions;

What’s behind the LP?

Personal experiences I guess, night visions, when we speak about our music we always feel like we’re describing paintings or pictures, this time there are more human figures, our first record was more abstract…

Upcoming shows?

We’ll start playing shows in Italy and looking forward to our first European tour in May-June. We’ll play shows in the UK (Sheffield, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol are already confirmed, London and another one are in the works…), France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and hopefully also Spain and Netherlands. Can’t wait.

What are you listening to?

Recently we are all listening to The Growlers. Fernando is digging Drive and Only God Forgives soundtracks, Diego is into BRMC last album, Wanda Jackson, Tomorrows Tulips, Johnny Cash and White Stripes first records. Dario is listening to Metz, Refused, Moon Duo, Allah Las, The Cramps and Dead Ghosts. Stefano is into Bob Dylan, Verve first two albums, Mother Island, Thirdimension, The Warlocks and Jennifer Gentle.

What’s next?

We have some new songs ready to be recorded, we’ll not wait much before releasing them, hopefully next year…

As well as the digital and cd formats, ‘New Candys As Medicine‘ is available as 12″ black vinyl (original pressing limited to 218 hand numbered copies). Labels personalized by the band with a rubber stamp.

US aficionados can save on shipping by ordering through Picture In My Ear: http://pictureinmyearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/new-candys-as-medicine

The one I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of, is a Fuzz Club Records Deluxe Edition 12″ transparent red vinyl, limited to 100 hand numbered copies. Silkscreened artwork on black paper stock gatefold cover. Embossed stamped. Digital download card included. Pre-order link: http://fuzzclub.com/index.php/as-medicine.html

‘New Candys As Medicine’ is officially released on Monday 16th March.