Claudia Malibu

A great assembly of space pop from a band that should be on an eight-track tape in every car this summer. This Hadley, MA, band are a composite of opposing thematic styles: namely New York and California. There is an obvious Velvet Underground influence mainlining into the guitars, while many of the songs are cheerful, wistful tunes that could be in the satchel of a surfer from California on a lonely Baja beach. Singer Captain Cavagnac is from the Dean Wareham, Galaxy 500, school of vocals, where character and personality of his voice is more important than actual ability, kind of like Neil Young. The band uses a lot of cool harmonies, which add obvious depth to the vocals; a musical device that seems to be largely absent from indie bands these days. The album is dispersed with songs that change at every turn. Yet they retain their own stylistic spin on pop, where space age keyboards and Arthur Lyman-type effects compliment lyrics like "Who do I have to know, to get on this UFO." They are dreamy and slightly psychedelic without being overly polished. Well, not polished at all really. A happy recording with great songs that should be heard by all pop aficionados.