http://www.beat.com.au/review.php?id=768


The Lovetones
Axiom
(Yep! / Undercover)

At the risk of condoning the self-perpetuating hyperbole that permeates the
cultural significance of the 1960s, at the heart of the emergence of the
psychedelic pop movement was a realisation (sparked by some of Stanley Owsley's
highest quality pharmaceutical products) that within the superficial simplicity
of the humble pop song resided infinite layers crying out for artistic
exploration.

That contradiction – or maybe it's just a dialectic – remains central to The
Lovetones' music. On the last Lovetones record, Meditations, the band explored
more obvious psychedelic territory, wading through fuzzed out soundscapes that
threatened to bend your mind into a rubbery mass. There are a couple of
noticeable deviations on Axiom. Firstly, The Lovetones detour away from their
previous journey to the depths of psychedelic pop in favour of a sonic landscape
that explores the beauty of the pop form that exists within the modern
psychedelic style. Secondly, there's a multi-instrumental aspect – perhaps best
illustrated by the poly-dimensional Navigator – that embellishes the pop
sensibility without saturating it.

Throughout it all Matthew Tow remains a master of the pop song. The first single
lifted from the album, Wintertime in Hollywood, is proof positive, a love song
that makes you smile without puking, with a melody that hangs around without
overstaying its welcome. Or there's the sweet and sunny Californian happiness of
Say You Will, a perfect recipe for a day at the beach free from the brain frying
frustrations of everyday life. And just to show that there's still some
psychedelic exploration left in the Lovetones, Alone rounds out the album with
some blurry eyed, string-augmented artistic indulgence.

The Lovetones are criminally under-appreciated in Australia – for once, you can
be sure the Americans are smarter than us on this one. Axiom is unlikely to
redress completely that criminality, but it should help.

PATRICK EMERY

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