Rating: NN
Crystal Antlers should have stuck with what worked on their 2008 EP. Tentacles, their debut full-length, sorely misses Ikey Owens’s production skills and the general imagination displayed on that disc. Tentacles’ more focused psych punk feels formulaic, underdeveloped and disappointing.
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Mostly, it’s Jonny Bell’s barking that fails to convince. On safe, repetitive songs like Time Erased and Memorized, his enthusiastic wailing quickly deflates. After all, fusing 60s psychedelic organs with abrupt angry yelping limits your appeal, so you might as well buck a bit. These Long Beachers sound like bulls in a china shop… who don’t break anything.
Top track: Andrew
Crystal Antlers play the Horseshoe May 8.
