Album Review: Holy Smokes Future Jokes by Blitzen Trapper

Blitzen Trapper sail into the mystic on their tenth studio effort, the existentialist audio road trip Holy Smokes Future Jokes. Using the Bardo Thodol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) as his guide, frontman Eric Earley attempts to parse "what it means to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth" with a versatile ten-song set that's built on a chassis of billowy psych rock, widescreen Americana, and chamber pop. Blitzen Trapper have been exploring the spirit realm in one form or another for well over a decade now, so the narrative throughline of Holy Smokes Future Jokes lines up canonically, as does the group's willingness to elasticize their already rubbery brand of indie Americana.

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