FASCINATOR

WATER SIGN

Touring alongside the likes of POND and Tame Impala over the last few years has been a silently snowballing force of colour and ingenuity in the form of Fascinator. Under the growing Perth psych label Spinning Top, the solo project of former Children Collide frontman Johnny Mackay bears only very faint echoes of his previous work, but retains his command of style and process learnt over years of studios and refined musical taste.

His latest album Water Sign demonstrates his knack for blending musical influences, genre-jumping from sitar-soaked folky banjos with a hip-hop back-beat to early 2000’s funk-disco-pop, and even to late 90’s brit pop - all with a pop-psychedelic undercurrent. Fascinator further comes into his own in Water Sign, with standout tracks Baby, Gone and My Own Private ‘I Don’t Know’ further highlighting his playful and experimental side. It’s hard to understand why Fascinator’s unique brand hasn’t piqued more attention in the enduring and evolving Australian neo-psychedelic scene - Water Sign has at times strong likenesses in style to Australia’s Jagwar Ma and Britain’s LA Priest.

Mackay has spent the best part of this decade refining this style in New York apartments, studios (occasionally collaborating with The Avalanches’ Darren Seltmann) and venues He is well known for his especially colourful and engaging live shows featuring brilliant masked outfits and friends/strangers alike playing air-instruments in his fake backing band. Style is clearly more than just music for Lord Fascinator, with a steady output of hilariously fun and well-produced music videos over the last few years (Time To Go and The Traveller for instance) which hasn’t stopped with this album - see single Sex Crystals.

Whether you're listening to his hypnotic psych-pop jams, watching his lsd-infused music videos, or just taking in his fruity style on Instagram, there’s no denying that Lord Fascinator is just fun.