One Step Behind

After solidifying their lineup, New Jersey nouveau-jam band Garcia Peoples settled into a mode of head-spinning productivity. The bands technical playing and indie rock update of classic tie-dyed psychedelia along the lines of Phish and the Grateful Dead were in top form on both their 2018 debut Cosmic Cash and on Natural Facts, the follow-up album that arrived less than six months later. One Step Behind comes less than half-a-year later, but it shifts the bands development into completely new territory by stretching out like never before. Where both of the preceding records had their fair share of longer jams, they came mostly in the form of song suites or extended passages of cosmic soloing in a tighter pop framework. One Step Behind is made up of just two tracks: The epic title track, which spans a nearly-32-minute running time, and the gentle comedown of the eight-minute-long Heart and Soul. The album begins with tape-echo-saturated solo saxophone played by Bob Malach, father of Garcia Peoples guitarist/vocalist Tom Malach, and a storied session player in his own right. Building slowly from patient sax into an ambient free space, the song goes on for ten minutes before locking into a groove out of nowhere. From there the song takes several different shapes as it goes on. Synth-heavy roots rock informs the more structured moments, but before the dust settles, the band wanders through psychedelic passages and brings the sax back in for a blasting Krautrock-tinged ending. Heart and Soul is a completely different entity, beginning as a sentimental piano ballad sung by bassist Andy Cush. Still something of a jam, as the song goes on it builds from sad-eyed 70s-styled soft rock into darker, more anxious tones. Burning synths, distorted lead guitars, and mellow flute float in a proggy arrangement for a while before the verse comes back in. One Step Behind sees Garcia Peoples continuing their rapid, curious evolution. That the band can take such a huge leap from their previous material in such a short period of time points to an even more radical exploration of whats to come. ~ Fred Thomas