Blissed Demeanors: Black Moth Super Rainbow

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BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW's new CD is titled "Dandelion Gum" (Graveface). Tracks such as "When the Sun Grows on Your Tongue," "Lollipopsichord" and "Neon Syrup for the Cemetery Sisters" blossom with flutelike analog synth lines and drip with vocodered vocals oozing lyrics that cozy up to spring, sunlight and candy in a variety of consciousness-expanding flavors.

So, when you learn that the mastermind behind BMSR's lysergic triptronica goes by the nom de rock "Tobacco," you're thinking, "Right. And those 'water pipes' they used to advertise on WHFS really were 'smoking accessories.'"

"A lot of people who use drugs on a regular basis seem to be really into the record," Tobacco said. "And I get a lot of people at shows who come up to us after the show and they're, like, 'Omigod, like, you guys, like, fellow users — this is amazing.'

"But, honestly, we're not. I'm completely dispelling the myth about us," he continued.

Given the musical evidence, the crowd at DC9 on Saturday may find this tough to swallow. "I didn't wanna let that out," Tobacco confessed. "I think a lot of people had built us up as a drug icon. I think maybe it'll just come off better if people know the truth, that we're not at all."

In fact, Tobacco doesn't think he and his comrades — bassist and Atari adept Power Pill Fist, keyboardists Father Hummingbird and The Seven Fields of Aphelion and drummer Iffernaut — could craft mind-bending tunes if they actually were tripping.

"I don't know if this is really arrogant of me to say," Tobacco ventured, "but I think that people who really use a lot and make music aren't exactly the most organized, together people that are able to maybe arrange stuff as intricately as it needs to be arranged. I think that maybe the best way to make drug music is to not be a drug user. I don't know."

Still, Tobacco doesn't deny that Black Moth is deeply psychedelic. "Dandelion Gum" isn't so much a collection of pop songs as it is a kaleidoscopic place you go when you put your headphones on.

» DC9, 1940 9th St. NW; with Gena Rowlands Band, Laura Burhenn, Sat., $8; 202-483-5000. (U St.-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon

Photo courtesy Fanatic Promotion