Album: Darker My Love, Alive As You Are (Dangerbird)

Andy Gill
Thursday 12 August 2010 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

You'd never guess from Alive As You Are that Darker My Love's Tim Presley and Rob Barbato were once part of The Fall: this third album from their Los Angeles quintet shows that the kind of psychedelia they're interested in is not the garage psych-rock beloved of Mark E. Smith, but a more refined strain rooted in the sylvan harmonies and cosmic sentiments of West Coast alumni such as The Byrds and Grateful Dead.

Tracks like "Rain Party" and "Backseat" could be outtakes from the latter's American Beauty, with their gently curdled melodic sweetness, while the jangly arpeggios and perceptual ruminations of "Split Minute" finger it as a Byrds homage. They also do a nice line in ersatz English psychedelia, with echoes of Soft Machine, Traffic and Tommy-era Who.

DOWNLOAD THIS Backseat; Rain Party; Split Minute; 18th Street Shuffle

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in