Syd Barrett

Scientists have theorized that there are thousands of tiny black holes throughout our solar system, each leading to a fifth, invisible dimension. If you listen closely to Syd Barrett's "Opel," you can hear a dispatch from this realm. His phrasing is trembling and his tempos slushy as he recounts the story of "a bare winding carcass" stranded "on a far distant shore." Recorded a year before the first official moonwalk, "Octopus" almost borders on gleeful before it becomes a litany of discordant imagery. Barrett's work is mainly nonsense, but themes of desolation and confusion do emerge, making this surprisingly universal.