At first glance, nothing about this Liverpool-based band seems to go together. First, there’s geography—singer and bassist Guro Gikling hails from Sweden, singer and guitarist Luis Santos comes from Brazil, and drummer Richard O’Flynn is as Irish as his name might suggest. Then, there’s basic mechanics—since all three played guitar when they formed the group, both Gikling and O’Flynn had to learn other instruments to make it work. Luckily, the hurdles of relocation and musical retraining have done nothing to damper All We Are’s self-professed “psychedelic boogie.” In fact, if anything they’ve simply made the band stronger, since the trio has truly chosen to make music that represents all that they are.
Which brings us to this track, “Stone.” Featuring Gikling’s enchanting vocals, the song is set to a shimmering guitar riff over a quietly stomping beat. It also sounds like concentric ripples on a pool, put to music; the aural embodiment of a stone dropping in a pond. Contrary to nature, however, those ripples only get more pronounced as the track progresses, injecting an increasing amount of organic jam rock into the track’s base of tremulous funk. By the end of the song, the ripples have turned to waves, and it’s clear that “Stone” is an ardent work of beauty that only gets better with age.