The Lovetones

Axiom

(Tee Pee)

Almost psychedelic pop, leaning towards a drugged out '60s flashback, emanates from this CD. I feel like time traveling, but I get lost in the music and end up staying right here. There are hints of that Dandy Warhol / Brian Jonestown Massacre vibe shimmering in these songs – and so it’s no surprise that singer Matt Tow was a member of the BJM, joining that band in 2003.

The songs pulse and resonate with sonic ache and mellow sighs that break like ocean waves across your body. It sounds like California, but sadder. It sounds like The Soundtrack Of Our Lives melting into Beach Boys ideals and moving into a heartbreak hotel. It feels so good, it feels so sad, it feels like longing transforming into love and then losing it all again… but you know there’s happiness in the future, so it’s okay to let the loss wash over you, and smile.

Psychedelic right now, like Mercury Rev meets Brian Wilson and they play a game of catch with your dreams. The songs just fit together, and the choruses are catchy without being contrived, the verses stick and sink into you, and the instruments all seem to know your name. Meanwhile the vocals tell you stories that you wish you could have heard as a child, because then the world may still be a sad place sometimes, but something about it would just make more sense.

—  Marcel Feldmar