Roky Erickson with Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil

Formerly of garage rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators, time has mellowed Roky Erickson's rasping wail to a soothing country croon. Time, electro-shock therapy and a diagnosis of schizophrenia that is, as the myth of Erickson as some form of quasi-psych deity has grown and grown. Fellow Texans Okkervil River team up with Erickson to deliver previously unreleased songs from over the course of his career, primarily through the medium of country and folk.

Bring Back The Past and the sublimely spooky John Lawman echo with Erickson's noisier, tumultuous past, and offer defiant diversity in the midst of the almost unbearable heartbreak found on Goodbye Sweet Dreams and Please Judge. But there is optimism amidst the melancholia; not least in Be And Bring Me Home, as Erickson basks in the love of his family and friends. In light of the life behind this collection of songs, the very existence of True Love Cast Out All Evil – like much of the material within – is in itself quite astonishing. [Paul Mitchell]