"The Dark Haze E.P"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Brazilian Pedro Alves began tinkering with the idea of The Dark Haze in 2013. With his work as a video editor and motion designer giving him a unique perspective on the cinematic qualities needed to evoke a sense of activity, coupled with his experiences of scoring his own projects in college, all of the pieces were in place to ensure that the Dark Haze was going to be something special, and not your standard, tentative debut.

Conceived as a tribute to the likes of Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and particularly, John Carpenter and Allan Howarth, Alves created a backstory for this non-existent movie that really helps to sell the action that's happening on the screen in his head, and gives him a focus that other 'soundtracks for imaginary films' often lack.

In Alves' story a group of astronauts arrive on a distant planet and discover the remains of a well-structured, religious alien community. Their subsequent exploration of the planet soon reveals that the haze that decimated this particular civilisation hasn't gone anywhere, and that the arrival of the astronauts has awoken it from its hibernation - a sci-fi cliche, Alves is quick to admit, but one that is ripe for moody musical exploitation.

A sense of dread and impending doom is manifested almost immediately but Alves trumps many of his like-minded contemporaries by never imposing atmosphere at the expense of melody, as demonstrated by the memorable and naggingly familiar refrain of "Arrival", which builds up to a fever pitch with an eminently hummable tune in tow.

The rest is just as memorable, with grand finale "The Temple" boasting the sort of creepy minor key melody that sounds custom designed to be performed on some sort of makeshift ribcage-as-xylophone apparatus. Fans of VHS era sci-fi and horror will be right in their element here. Definitely sleeping with the lights on material. Highly recommended.

Available as a 'name your price' download here:

Free Download Roundup - Guruguru Brain Wash / Savage Sister / Torpa / Prana Crafter

Here's another batch of great free stuff courtesy of the artists and labels involved.

Various Artists "Guruguru Brain Wash"
Put together by Japanese psychedelic label Guruguru Brain, this extremely generous 21 track sampler is a fresh and vibrant snapshot of the current Japanese psychedelic scene, which shows that the children of the Acid Mother's Temple are every bit as adventurous as their forefathers.
I'm not usually one to make sweeping statements to describe an entire nation's approach to making music, but on the whole "Guruguru Brain Wash" shows the current Japanese scene as one that doesn't rely on effects and studio trickery to give their music a lysergic edge, when explorative jamming, relentless riffing and occasionally intimidating wig-outs will do the job even better.
Active Listener favourites Kikagaku Moyo are present and accounted for of course, but there's plenty more gold to be discovered here, particularly Deigen's "Cosmic Upside Down" and Icecreams' "Tachikurami (Dizzy)" which clocks in at over ten minutes (as a number of tracks do here), and could quite easily double its length before I started to lose interest.
Mind expanding and rather grand.
Available as a free download here:



Savage Sister "Huge Moves"
"Huge Moves" is the new three track single from prolific Chicago based dream-pop trio Savage Sister, and from the moment the big Gil Norton / Pixies drums of the lead off track kick into life you know they've studied the production techniques of the masters. Big Cocteau Twins synth washes and drop-dead gorgeous, heavily reverbed vocals seal the deal, and the songs have hooks to match their ambitious production refererences. "Huge Moves" is a big, cavernous anthem of a track that will leave the vocals swimming around in your head for days, but its B-sides are equally seductive, and will be treasured by all who have ears to hear.
Available as a free / name your price download here:



Torpa "Dead Letter Drop / Spiral"
This intriguing U.K based electronic duo already have about a million releases out through their Bandcamp page which show a diverse approach to incorporating their electronic tendencies into everything from psychedelia, ambient, dub, shoegaze and more.
This recent release is the one that grabbed me and shook me the hardest though, a two track tribute to John Barry that bypasses the more obvious brassy Bond approach and heads for Barry's more intriguing and low key mid sixties work for inspiration. This is moody, slightly sinister stuff most closely aligned to Barry's work on "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" with the slightly more subtle spy twang of "The I.P.C.R.E.S.S File" sneaking in too.
Deserving of its own movie, or at least a short film for a video clip.
Available as a name your price download (starting at $0) here:



Prana Crafter "Mountain Throned" / "Forest at First Light"
An artist that we've covered before (and will continue to do so long as he releases stuff this good) is Will Sol, who records under the name of Prana Crafter.
"Mountain Throned" is an instrumental set that showcases his rustic, hazy, woodsy psychedelia at its best. Opener "Treasure in a Ruin" has the eerie resonance of Pink Floyd's "Signs of Life" without the eighties production values. Elsewhere Sol's guitar rumbles with the brooding intensity of "Dead Man" era Neil Young.
A newer, stand-alone single "Forest at First Light" introduces vocals for an affecting performance not unlike early Bon Iver or a less produced Fleet Foxes.
Check out Prana Crafter's bandcamp page here for these and many other free downloads.

Verma "Sunrunner", Krakatau "Water Near a Bridge"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Trouble in Mind Records continues to bamboozle those who would attempt to pigeon-hole their output with two excellent new releases that stray a long way from the label's early garage roots, and further embrace the adventurous eclecticism of recent releases.

First up is the new album from Chicago's Verma, whom you may recall released this excellent, mellow instrumental album on Trouble in Mind last year. Those expecting more of the same will be in for a bit of a shock; the slowly unfolding charms of that record are notably absent on new album "Sunrunner", replaced by aggressive Hawkwind invoking space-rock (which they are more accustomed to), with more than a little Detroit style punk in both attitude and delivery.

Vocalist Whitney Johnson wails in a suitably otherwordly and alien fashion throughout while the rhythm section of Rob Goerke and Zach Corn lay down a solid and pummeling bedrock for Johnny Caluya’s explorative guitar sweeps to parry around - kosmische this may well be, but it's more a case of navigating an asteroid field at warp speed than contemplating the beauties of a distant spiral nebula.

Fab, but exhausting stuff - phew!

Krakatau's "Water Near a Bridge" is just what I needed to calm my nerves after that relentless onslaught.

It took me a little bit of digging to find some info on these guys, and I was very surprised to find that they're not some ancient Scandinavian prog druids, but a young trio from Melbourne, Australia.

"Water Near a Bridge" is an intriguing, explorative effort with its three long tracks unwrapping slowly, and leaving plenty of space for improv that is approached in a meditative fashion rather than your usual "look how many notes I can fit in here" approach that most young prog heads will fall into when trying to prove themselves. This restraint works very much in Krakatau's favour and doesn't preclude some funky jamming in the second half of opener "Riddell's Creek".

The lack of guitar works well for them too, with the nimble rhythm section sensing the needs of keyboard player James Tom seemingly before he's even aware of them and creating space for him when necessary, and still knowing when to step out of a supporting role and really fire. But it's Tom's burbling keyboards that make the biggest impression, particularly on the opening cascading notes of "Riddell's Creek" with its gorgeous, vintage radiophonic tones that take me to the same, eerie places that this does.

Admittedly, not everyone in the world is going to want to own an album with three long, semi-improvised tracks on it, but for those who like their prog to stray off the beaten path, and accentuate the progressive elements well over the rock side, this will provide a particularly satisfying, and soothing balm.

Verma's Sunrunner is out now and available here on vinyl, here on CD, and here digitally.

Krakatau's "Water Near a Bridge" will be released soon. Keep an eye on their Facebook page here for updates.

Free Download Roundup - Pez Headz / Coloured Clocks / Southern Boutique

I've found soooo much great new free stuff for you for this month's free download roundup that I'm having to split the feature into multiple parts to ensure that I don't give you too much goodness to take in at once. Without further googoo gajoob, check out these beauties:

Pez Headz "Mr. Something"
I'm a sucker for a piece of memorable sleeve art, and "Mr Something" pulls the neat trick of sounding exactly like I hoped it would from the cover - a rare case of being able to judge a book by its cover. California based Pez Headz combine some nice, vintage sounding U.K post-punk moves with groovadelic organwork and reverb-laden surf guitar in a manner that occasionally suggests The Cure's "Three Imaginary Boys" reimagined at half speed by an original Nuggets era garage psych band. Quite an odd mixture, but extremely effective, with the wobbly organ and treated vocals adding a layer of mystery that makes everything sound just a little disconcerting and spooky.
Fans of Holy Wave will probably like this one a lot. We like it a whole lot, especially when the bass guitar goes all Hooky.
Available as a free download direct from the band's Bandcamp page here:



Coloured Clocks "All Is Round"
"All is Round" is a pretty phenomenal piece of bedroom psych pop that shows more sonic invention than most bands can muster in a fully equipped studio - and James Wallace does this all by himself. Over the course of twenty tracks, interest should at some point lag, but Wallace's songwriting smarts and production and arrangement skills ensure that there's never a dull moment, with an impressive wall of sound that suggests Tame Impala with a baroque pop fixation. Special mention should also be made of Wallace's occasional guitar solos which have the lyrical quality of David Gilmour with a more spontaneous edge. Try "Killing Time", "Irrational II" or "It's Getting so Close" for an idea of the memorable songwriting on display here.
Seriously inventive and impressive.
"All Is Round" is a free download from the Coloured Clocks Bandcamp page here:



Southern Boutique "Growing Old / Undercurrent" "Rabbit Trails / Don't Be Yourself (Cowboy Song Pt. 2"
Not one, but two great singles from this excellent Austin, Texas psychedelic pop combo with an inventive, lo-fi aesthetic that adheres closer to something from the Elephant 6 roster than the reverb-laden, garage psych that Austin is renowned for.
No idea where these guys sprang from, but I'm assuming there's quite a background behind them as these are not the tentative first steps you'd normally hear on a set of debut tracks.
"Rabbit Trails" is particularly assured, with a stonking, rhythmic arrangement that puts the bomp in the bomp, bomp, bomp while accentuating a killer melody. "Don't Be Yourself" on the other hand features memorably arranged harmony vocals that go all wiggy in the best tradition of the likes of "Good Vibrations" - as Beach Boy tributes go this is a particular winner, and undoubtedly more psychedelic than anything Wilson and co. ever conjured without losing the edge of melancholy that invited so many of Brian's tracks into our hearts. Yup, pretty damn fine.
Both available on a name your own price starting at $0 basis from their Bandcamp page here.


More free stuff to come soon!
Check out previous free download roundups here and here.

Áine O’Dwyer "Anything Bright or Startling" & "Safely Adrift"

Reviewed by Grey Malkin (The Hare & The Moon)

Áine O’Dwyer is perhaps best known for her work with wyrd chamber folk act United Bible Studies, acid folk legend Mark Fry, Piano Magic and as a musician in demand on countless albums by luminaries such as Richard Moult and Michael Tanner (both Tanner and O’Dwyer record as Cloisters). Áine’s spectral and sometimes stormy harp playing has added texture and colour to many an album that could be found in an Active Listener reader’s record collection. Yet she is also an established solo artist in her own right; last years "Anything Bright or Startling" was a revelation. Now the limited accompanying album, "Safely Adrift", that was available with limited copies of "Anything.." has been given a release in its own right and it proves to be equally, if perhaps differently, majestic. And as 'Anything.." has not previously been reviewed here this is the perfect opportunity to reflect on both albums and the music therein.

Following Áine’s debut album "Music for Church Cleaners", 2013’s "Anything Bright or Startling" was her first release to contain vocals and is in general a much more layered and diverse recording. Indeed, it is a veritable milestone; lyrics written by Scottish painter RWM Hunt and borrowed from Art Bear’s Chris Cutler (Albion Awake) combine with Áine’s harp, piano and organ to create something truly unique and timeless. In opener "Falcon/Egress/Coiled Eyes" Áine’s harp flows like water in a stream, at once a thing of both joy and delicate melancholy. Her native Ireland can be heard in the blood of this track; the rolling, lonely hilled landscapes bleed into the music adding a deep yearning quality that is truly moving. "Hyperbolia/Boatwoman" is more troubling; discordant piano rumbles and drones pass like storm clouds over harp, xylophone and Áine’s vocals declaring the coming of something both ominous and filled with dread. This piece reminds one of Nico’s classic "Marble Index" in its use of spare but effective tonal textures to suggest mood and intent. Dwyer’s music is utterly unique yet it still feels like it fits into a rich canon of outsider music from Art Bears "Winter Songs" to Robert Wyatt’s "Rock Bottom", Meredith Monk to Richard Skelton. Driven and intense harp pedals Áine’s searching and keening vocals forward, occasionally playful and Syd Barrett-like, then at turns sombre. Again, disturbing piano bass notes break the delicacy with dark intentions. What sounds like chanter leads the song off on an ancient path, echoing the sound of gulls across crashing waves. Speaking of Art Bears, "Albion Awake" begins gently, the quiet and calm after the storm, harp glistening star like and shining. It picks up pace steadily, with chilling and choral vocals intoning "Albion Awake!/Tumble you seeders/ Owls begone!/Beaks, tear the fabric of the night to sparks". Bowed strings and accordion add tension and dread to the ever building whirlwind of nature, this is the sound of the earth trembling. "Silent O Moyle/Truant Crier" is a lament sitting on top of descending and waterfalling harp; a moonlit paean that is both intoxicating and haunting. Drones of pipe organ darken the mood as Áine’s chants and plaintive cries evoke Nico’s disturbing and dissonant "Evening of Light" to finish the album. It is an incredible piece and leaves one feeling as alive and spooked as when standing in the heart of a thunderstorm.

"Safely Adrift" accompanied "Anything.." for subscribers to the splendid Second Language label. It is only fitting that this incredible work is given a release now in its own right; for this record to have gone unnoticed by everyone else would have been a significant loss. Different in feel to its sister album "Safely Adrift" contains shorter, more varied pieces and is less of a tapestry and more of a series of vignettes. "A Truant Melody" begins the album, immediately setting a sacred and ethereal tone. Effectively an improvisation in an abandoned friary in Limerick, the pipe organ creates a sombre and atmosphere. The ghosts of the friary are present in this recording; it is ageless and affecting. "Underbuilding", an improvised piano piece, again in an empty space – this time recorded in an underground basement car park in London during the night, brings to mind some of Richard Moult’s work as notes cascade waterfall-like upon each other. Again the mood is a melancholy one, perhaps aided by the desolate circumstances of the recording. "A Calling", described as ‘music for a prayer film’ is a chanted hymnal; choral voices accompanied solely by a hand drum. This piece would not be out of place on an alternate Wicker Man soundtrack or on a classic Popol Vuh album. At once beautiful and profound yet also ancient and unsettling, this processionary piece is, to this listener’s ears, the highpoint of an already impressive record. "Shane on Flute" closes the album, a piano and vocal improvisation in a Colchester church. The echoing reverb in the empty space of the church creates a drone like contemplation as the piece builds to a crescendo of startling beauty. This is an album of deserted, abandoned and haunted places and sounds. It consequently has an air of cobwebbed sadness but it is also quietly alive and pulsing; Áine’s instinctive playing leading each piece to an ever building and heart rending finale.

"Anything Bright or Startling" is No.3 in the Second Language Library Series (available here) - a highly collectable catalogue of hardback CD albums designed to be stored in your bookcase. It is a thing of beauty and quickly has become one of this listener's favourite albums. "Safely Adrift" is available on Bandcamp (below) with plans for a potential vinyl release.
These albums come highly recommended; you will not hear anything else quite like them.

Dead Horse One "Without Love We Perish"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Following on from a couple of well received (and rather good) E.Ps (bits of which are still available here), French shoegaze champions Dead Horse One have really taken their time to get their debut full length just right, and the attention to detail, and level of care that have gone into "Without Love We Perish" has paid off in droves with an album that is light years ahead of anything the band have released before.

Easily brushing aside the work of other imitators, it's easy to see why Ride's Mark Gardener was impressed enough with what he heard to agree to produce an album that would not have been particularly lucrative for him financially, but artistically would have been a very attractive prospect. Gardner's mix is warm, spacious and enveloping - this is a much cleaner, and less heavy Dead Horse One than that which appeared on those early E.Ps, and the resulting clarity really allows these memorably tuneful songs the opportunity to shine.

If we're looking at Ride comparisons (and few other shoegazers - from the original wave or the current one could withstand such a comparison without withering), "Without Love We Perish" is like the mellow cousin of "Going Blank Again" with only the occasional glimpse of the squall of "Nowhere".

Dead Horse One's guiding light Olivier Debard is both a scholar of the original shoegaze movement, and an innovative writer himself, allowing the evocatively titled "Without Love We Perish" the opportunity to establish itself as both a reverent loveletter to the albums that were most important to him in his formative musical years, and as a very personal, unique statement of his own.

Highlights are hard to extract from an album that has such a sense of unity and completeness, but Debard elects opener "Hopper" as the ultimate Dead Horse One experience (so far), and that's as good a place to start as any, but with no misteps you can rest assured that you can dive in anywhere within "Without Love We Perish"s playing time and come up with gold.

"Without Love We Perish" is available on vinyl, CD and digital formats directly from A Quick One Records here.

"Blackwood" is available as a free download as part of The Active Listener New Shoegaze Sampler here.

Olivier Debard was interviewed by When The Sun Hits Blog recently. We've cross-posted that interview here.

Full album stream is available here:

Fleeting Joys (+The Black Ryder + BJM) – The Laurels = Modern Shoegaze: An Interview with Olivier Debard of Dead Horse One

This article has been cross posted from "When the Sun Hits", where it was originally published - great shoegaze blog, check it out.

Only Dead Horse One’s singular songwriter and front person Olivier Debard could come up with a precise mathematical equation defining modern shoegaze, as he does in this new interview. Just what that equation actually means will surely be a topic of profound speculation and earnest debate among academics and stoners alike for decades to come, so remember—you heard it here first!

The band’s debut full-length Without Love We Perish is now available (you can buy it here). Produced by Mark Gardener of the classic shoegaze band Ride, it’s a truly masterful expression of the hazy, fertile boundary where shoegaze and psychedelia overlap.

Olivier, who hails from southern France, comes across in our abundant electronic correspondence with him as warm and individualistic with a compactly enigmatic wit. He projects both confidence and humility, knowing full well what his strengths are and just how far they reach. Olivier writes songs of depth and poignancy that he sings beautifully and that Dead Horse One performs and records with exquisite results. Without Love We Perish immediately struck us as brilliant, our first listen giving us goosebumps and moistening our eyes in the wonderful way of music that we love. We expect it to be one of the most significant releases of the year in the musical zones covered by When The Sun Hits. Please give Without Love We Perish a listen here and enjoy Olivier’s distinctive perspectives in this interview.

Do you consider your music to be part of the current shoegaze/psychedelia scene, or any scene? Do you feel that Dead Horse One identifies closely with any genre? How do you feel about genres in music in a general sense?

Musical genres? This only serves to put music in boxes, to better sell, no? I think the structure of the songs, the mode of composition, remains unchanged. Only technology has evolved. Look at the path traveled since the ‘50s until our time! Only songs remain.

What do you think of modern shoegaze/dream pop/psychedelia artists, any favorites?

Fleeting Joys (+The Black Ryder + BJM) – The Laurels = modern shoegaze.

What is the most important piece of gear for your sound? Any particular guitars/pedals/amps that you prefer?

Semi-hollow body! That's the secret! And a lot of other things that I can't mention here! Ahah! More seriously, we use much twelve string, Jazzmaster and Coronado. We also use ‘80s keyboards. This is an old recipe.

Do you prefer vinyl, CD, cassette tape or MP3 format when listening to music? Do you have any strong feelings toward any of them?

Whatever, as Jean-Jacques Goldman, a famous French singer, said in a song: "When the music is good! When she does not cheat." Ahah! Regardless of the medium.

What artists have most influenced your work?

At the risk of being very original, I say JAMC, Anton Newcombe, Ride and, more recently, The Warlocks.

Can you tell us a little about what you are currently into (books, films, art, bands, etc.)?

Marcel Conche, a French philosopher. I love listening to these sermons! Regarding music, I am into all our buddies in the French collective “nøthing”.

If you had to choose one track that was the ultimate definition of your sound, which would it be and why?

“Hopper” definitely! Everything is there!



We understand you are the songwriter for Dead Horse One. Can you tell us a little about the band and its process?

Jérome Simonian is the guitar hero, Antoine Pinet is the drumer, Ludovic Naud is the bass player, Ivan Tziboulsky plays keyboards and 12-string. I am left alone much of the year away from my family (because of my work). I have a lot of free time with myself! This is when the songs get written. I think about the music, then I show the other band members their different parts and the color of sounds (except for the guitar solos, which Jérome develops). Generally I make a demo that I send to them. After, they play for the recording session, much better than me. They don't have the same influences as me; we're not from the same generation. Sometimes music they play sounds too “ROCK” for me and we yell. And sometimes it works.

Could you tell us how you managed to get Mark Gardener on board to produce Without Love We Perish? Would you like to comment on the working process with Mark?

I followed Mark for a long time. I saw the bands with which he was involved such as The Morning After Girls, and the number of shows he performed in the United States with all its new neo-psych bands like Asteroid #4 or The Black Ryder. We had made our tracks recording by ourselves and we were facing a mountain of tracks to mix…So I had the idea to contact Mark. I started by sending him an email to which he responded two months later! We sent him a pre-mix of “Hopper”. This was the first song he mixed. We gave him carte blanche to do what he wanted with the tracks. He never sent us more than three mixes of a particular track. It was incredibly simple to work with him. We were lucky he agreed to put his name on the project because one thing is certain, he didn't do that only for money given the budget we had.

Can you tell us what the band has been working on and what you've got forthcoming in the near future (new releases, tour, etc.)?

We have ten new songs for Season of Mist, our next album. John Loring from Fleeting Joys will do the mix and Craig Walker will perform a song! I'm very happy, Craig is one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard so far. He invited us to play with his new band Mineral in Marseille last March. That was an awesome night! We should be recording early next year. We will do some dates in France in early November, although it is very difficult to find shows in our country. We recorded an original track mixed by Yan from Venera 4. The first physical compilation (vinyl) of the nøthing Music Art Collective will arrive really soon. All eleven French bands of the collective have recorded a special track for it! I've seen the cover art and it's beautiful!

What is your philosophy (on life), if any, that you live by?

“Sans amour nous perissons.” It’s an old saying of French soldiers that means “without love we perish.”

The Electric Magpie "Begins"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

More excellence from the Lolipop Records stable here after yesterday's Mystic Braves review.

A good fit for the Lolipop label, The Electric Magpie are apparently well known in the local San Francisco garage / psych scene, but not so much to those of us further afield. That turns out to be our loss, as "Begins" is a pretty great debut.

Like their avian namesakes, The Electric Magpie like to pick up shiny things and make them their own, with "Begins" bathed in a warm, comfortable early seventies glow that acknowledges lots of the psychedelic masters, but also makes concessions towards more straightforward classic rock fare too. Case in point is possible album stand out "Friends" which kicks into life with a splendid New York coke-cool rhodes intro which is pure Donald Fagen, before going all "I Am The Walrus" and getting moody and psychedelic. Not your usual approach, but the ease with which these guys traverse genres is commendable and results in an album that sounds like it exists outside of the confines of time.

There's a whole lot of silliness and fun to be had here too, with tracks like "Mourning Gloria", "Birds in the Trees" and "Hold On (Hannah)" sporting choruses that are infectious and memorable and grooves that will inevitably lead to more than their fair share of irresistible, get-down choogling.

Eclectic and a whole heap of fun, with a great live-sounding vibe that I bet makes them rule on stage.

CD, cassette and digital available here with vinyl to follow soon:

Mystic Braves "Desert Island"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

L.A independent Lolipop Records' release schedule has been increasingly busy and increasingly interesting of late, with two recent releases I'm going to highlight over the next few days upping the ante considerably.

First up we have the sophomore release from Cali-psych poppers Mystic Braves, which performs a considerable feat in bettering its predecessor, which was a pretty top album that this writer thinks could perhaps have received a little of the attention that the Allah La's album took the lion's share of.

"Desert Island" continues to expand upon the sounds found on that debut, effortlessly merging reverb laden Cali-cool with the urgent r&b of British invasion bands like the Animals and Them, with more Farfisa organ than you'll find on almost any album recorded after 1967.

The first side peaks with gonzo spaghetti western epic "Coyote Blood", forging a perfect alliance between windswept, desert melancholia and raucous garage rock. The flipside is even better though, with scorching mariachi brass joining the fray and on "In the Past", a memorable, jittery guitar figure snaking its way around the Farfisa line in a seizure-inducing frenzy.

Pretty great.

Vinyl & digital both available here:

The Cryan' Shames "A Scratch in the Sky" Deluxe Expanded Mono Edition.

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

In a move that shows their expertise, the folks at Now Sounds have opted not for a full reissue program of the Cryan' Shames three albums, but dived straight in with their second album "A Scratch In The Sky" which is their masterpiece to this listener's ears.

While debut "Sugar & Spice" showed this Chicago based band finding their feet with a set of good jangly garage folk tunes, and third album "Synthesis" saw them entering harder rock territory (which they didn't always sound comfortable with), "A Scratch In The Sky" saw everything converge in the right place at the right time to the point where it's a small wonder that this wasn't a pretty big hit back in 1967 when it saw its original release.

Initial plays had me thinking that a good half of this was reasonably lightweight sunshine pop, but subsequent listens have revealed these songs to be some of the best of their type with faultless songcraft and an easy appeal that's likely to win over those not normally impressed by this genre (it sure worked on me).

The other half is where the real treasure lies for the psychedelic collector though. Heavily influenced by the Beatles "Revolver" (and it's contemporary single "Rain"), these tracks are fabulous examples of how unique an Americanised approach to the British Invasion can sound.

"The Sailing Ship" is a trippy masterpiece, with a kitchen sink arrangement that includes backwards guitars and bagpipes, and an atmosphere among the most evocative of U.S psych. "Mr Unreliable" is a great rocker with some fabulous Ringo style drum fills, a killer chorus, and clever spiraling guitar parts. "I Was Lonely When" is memorably jazz tinged, and extremely moody, while the more acoustic based "Cobblestone Road" anticipates the rural charm of early solo McCartney. Even the blatant Byrds steal of "Sunshine Psalm" is so well integrated into their sound that after several plays it feels entirely natural.

Now Sounds expanded mono edition meets the high standards one expects from Cherry Red's associated reissue, with the punchy mono mix especially valuable on "Mr Unreliable" and "Dennis Dupree From Danville", with its memorable George Harrison inspired guitar solo.

A recommended purchase, and easily a match for any of the Buckinghams' more lauded albums from this period.

Available here at the bargain price of 7.93 (at the time of writing). Essential.