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Written by Marc Farr Friday, 05 June 2015 17:18

Some tracks wail in desperation, while others satisfy the more mundane expressions of joy, love, and despair.

 

 

 

With a lo-fi production and an early psychedelic flow, Neil Golden and his stellar project Golden Eels have presented us with Periscopes in the Air. A piano-obsessed Athens, Ga., transplant, here Golden enlisted the help of former bandmates The Glands. And while there is no new Glands material planned, Periscopes continues on where that band left off.

With a very DIY sound and production, the guitar work here is sublime and inviting, more than mere riffs, but lightly tangled vines of rhythm and harnony. What rules this album is melody, melody, and more melody. With deep attention to detail, the artist does not get stuck in a creative rut, as can so easily happen when one lacks an outside ear or producer.

Tracks like “Hi,” “Jezebel,” and album opener “Bathtub” ride on an eclectic mode of sound. Vocally, the album is reminiscent of early ’70s artists like Jeff Lynne and some Roger Waters/David Gilmore thrown in the mix, with nods to artists like Pink Floyd and early Who, mixed with a dash of ’60s psychedelic and pop rounding out the sound. Even some anarchistic punk seeps on here in the form of the track “Stay in Touch,” an homage to remembering who one is.

Baroque, yet melodic, this album has a flair all its own. Periscopes in the Air takes you on an intense emotional journey—if you are willing to take the ride. A garage sale–type of find, this is a great album. Enjoyable while not easily figured out, the material and production are loose enough to create an almost ethereal flow of songs. With raw emotion tapped into the sound, some tracks wail in desperation, while others satisfy the more mundane expressions of joy, love, and despair. B | Marc Farr