Man Mountain

Summertime, and a young woman’s fancy turns to thoughts of wide-open horizons, vistas seen through miles of fresh clean-tasting air and, eh, other visceral pleasures. No better record, then, than Blue States’ sophomore LP, a soundtrackish, string-brass-and-slo-beats-laden paean to the beautiful season, to supply blue skies if our own ‘summer’ cannot.

It’s a soundtrack to a peculiarly late-1960s summer, however. ‘Bare Bones’s conga-led trance is not necessarily stoned, but beautiful; the delicious ‘What We’ve Won’ is Goldfrapp covered by Abba and/or vice versa and ‘Doublespeak’s organ harmonies definitely have more than a few discreet Good Vibrations to them. ‘Season Song’, with its chorused vocals and (what can only be described as) groovy guitar, is a slow, spliff-drowsy sister to (wait for it) ‘Let The Sun Shine In’ from Hair and ‘The Winfield Audition’s shimmering, acid-trailback cymbals and psychedelic fadeout will have you seeing shapes shortly before you bed your fourth sun-warmed stranger in a Woodstock stylee.

Granted, a listener either has a sufficient tolerance for this kind of sunburned, face-painted, acid-dropping retro-pop or they uh, don’t. But if you do, it’s glorious. Turn on, tune in and drop out, maan.