Through Other Reflections＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

The return of the Soundcarriers is one of the best things to happen to psychedelic music in the 2020s. Their comeback album Wilds was a brilliant reminder that their murky, trippy, melodic, and heavy sound still had plenty of life left in it. The group werent content to hit it and quit it; they felt revitalized and felt the need to continue exploring the dusty avenues and forgotten glades where outsider jazz meets garage rock, faerie folk gets cozy with biker rock, and misty melodies tussle with knotty jamming. Hence, 2024s Through Other Reflections, an album that finds the band splicing laid-back, layered psychedelia thats framed by nimble basslines, tap-dancing drums, wood-smoke vocal harmonies, and tinkling keys with insistent acid rock-inspired freakouts that seem more likely to smash ones glasses than ease them into a somnambulant trance. Fans of the groups older, less aggressive sound have no need to steer clear as there are many songs like "Comet 4" or "What We Found" that drift on feathery clouds of vintage air. Around half the album sticks to this particular approach, and as ever, the Soundcarriers are genius level at conjuring up mystic moods and memories. Thats all well and good, but where it gets extra interesting is when they take that basic template and rough it up a bit in ways they havent done before. On tracks like "Always," "The City Was," or "The Return," they add guitars that snarl, organs that have some grit stuck between the keys, drums that sound tough enough to hit back, and vocals that have some bite to them. Leonore Wheatley can be a much more dynamic vocalist than she often is in Soundcarriers, and its nice to hear her stretch out a little. Her clearly delivered, ultra-poppy vocals on "Already Over" are a treat, and the song itself is probably the most straightforward tune in their catalog, sounding like a particularly good track rescued from a Pebbles collection. On the other hand, "What We Found" comes across like the best song from a Rubbles volume and features the band diffusing their psychedelia into a great mist of wordless vocals, chiming guitars, hilly rhythms, and mystery. While its always good to hear the band doing Soundcarriers things since they are so very good at it, its also wonderful to hear them evolving into something new. What theyve done is something like building an addition on an already seemingly perfect house, an undertaking that must be done with great care and vision. Thats exactly what the band manage on Through Other Reflections, and the result is near-perfect psychedelic pop that puts the half-baked efforts of most of their contemporaries to shame. ~ Tim Sendra

英ノッティンガムの4人組バンド。各方面で評価の高かった前作『Wilds』以来約3年ぶりとなる5作目は、引き続きコーラルにも通じるサイケデリアを発揮しつつ効果的にチープなキーボードの音も取り入れ、まさに60年代のサイケデリック・ロックを見事にモダナイズしたような仕上がり。 名コンピ『Nuggets』にも通じるギラギラした感覚が最高にカッコいい好盤だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二