“Bay Area Rockers Take a Somber Turn on Engaging New LP”
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The San Francisco psych-pop outfit The Fresh & Onlys deliver with their fifth LP, House of Spirits. On “Home is Where?” organs open up a surreal album inspired by the dreams frontman Tim Cohen documented while staying in a remote, Arizonan horse ranch. Under the direction of Phil Manley (Trans Am), Cohen navigates a peculiar landscape marked by bleary-eyed, garage-pop melodies.
Partly recorded with only a guitar, Korg keyboard, and drum machine, House of Spirits finds the band expanding its already heavily-stacked arsenal of hazy, experimental jams. The album is haunted by isolation, the fear of being forgotten, and driven by twangy guitar tones. House of Spirits is at its best when the unsettling atmosphere Cohen creates seems to perfectly house the illusory musings that dreams make difficult to place. The album’s closing track, “Madness,” puts it beautifully: “So, madness has a heart / Letting me rejoice / In the most peculiar things.”
House of Spirits
San Francisco, CA
(Mexican Summer)
Recorded by Phil Manley
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