Heron Oblivion is an American

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

that first performed in April 2014, when they opened for

the War on Drugs The War on Drugs is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2005. The band consists of Adam Granduciel (vocals, guitar), David Hartley (bass guitar), Robbie Bennett (keyboards), Charlie Hall (drums), Jon Natchez (saxopho ...

. Its members, all of whom were active in the psych-rock scene in the mid 2000s, are: singer and drummer Meg Baird (formerly of Espers), bassist Ethan Miller (

Comets on Fire Comets on Fire were an American noise rock band from Santa Cruz, California, United States. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarist and vocalist Ethan Miller and longtime friend bassist Ben Flashman, who were seeking to create rhythmically a ...

and

Howlin' Rain Howlin Rain is an American rock band based in Oakland, California, formed in 2004 by guitarist/singer Ethan Miller. Their most recent album ''The Dharma Wheel'' was released in 2021. Their sound has been described as "classically soulful" and "Un ...

), guitarist Noel Von Harmonson (Comets on Fire, Sic Alps), and second guitarist Charlie Saufley (

Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is a psychedelic rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in the early 2000s.Greene, Jo-Ann. "''Ekranoplan'." ''Allmusic''. Retrieved July 11, 2009.Stewart-Panko, Kevin (June 2009). "Assemble Head in Sunburst ...

). The band released its first album, which was self-titled, on March 4, 2016, on Sub Pop Records.

Critical reception

''Heron Oblivion'' received mostly favorable reviews from critics: according to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album has a score of 80 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Aaron Leitko wrote in ''

the Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' that the album "moves elegantly between extremes — soft and loud, harmony and dissonance." Writing for

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

, Leitko gave the album a score of 7.7 out of 10 and described its songs as "moody and dark, with clear moments of guitar solo-driven catharsis." Doug Mosurock wrote for NPR that the album "restores both austerity and blistering excess to the form, following in the footsteps of

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

and the purists that came after (

Major Stars Major Stars is an American psychedelic rock band from greater Boston, Massachusetts. Their first live performance was in 1997 at the inaugural Terrastock Festival in Providence, Rhode Island. They toured Japan in 2000 with Overhang Party. In ...

, Vermonster and the rest of the Twisted Village roster, for starters, as well as Polvo and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

, who cut their own trails throughout the '80s and '90s)."

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from San Francisco Psychedelic rock music groups from California Sub Pop artists Rock music supergroups