The hooks alone are worth the price of admission, but it’s Sarah Bethe Nelson’s unhurried delivery and the band’s ringing, clear-eyed take on her material that hold this record together wonderfully. The songs are fast-moving clouds, riffs with drift (let’s call them “driffs” for now and leave it to someone else to come up with a better term), immediately catchy and contemporary but also tastefully inflected with gazey and psychedelic sensibilities.
Much of the power comes from subtlety and restraint: from Nelson’s ever-so-slightly bowed long vowels at the end of Uneasy to the understated flute/trumpet/12-string guitar interplay that ornaments the chorus of Black Telephone. The band, made up of fellow San Francisco/Bay Area scene regulars, shows incredible sensitivity to the mood and tone of the songs, always sounding essential but never ostentatious.
Immerse thyself in the galloping outro to Start Somewhere and the controlled burn of Every Other Sunday and revel in the splendour of 2015’s finest driffage.
Top track: Paying
