reviews / 2011

SIC ALPS - Napa Asylum

Name: SIC ALPS – Napa Asylum
Item: Napa Asylum
Rating: 7
Author: Antonio Ciarletta

2011 (Drag City)

psychedelic garage

by Antonio Ciarletta

In 2008, Sic Alps had followed up that masterpiece of unruly wreckage known as "Pleasures And Treasures" with the more tamed "U.S. EZ", which not-so-subtly hinted at indie leanings. That transition toward those shores reaches completion with this "Napa Asylum". No need to worry, though: not everything that seems bad turns out to hurt. In fact, while the sense of weary disaffection this music keeps communicating remains intact, along with the lovely acid distortion that continues to mar every damn track, the attention paid to a more polished production brings out the band's more melodic side.

What comes out of it is a rustic garage sound that arrives at the gates of the psychiatric hospital without ever crossing the threshold. Maybe Sic Alps have redeemed themselves, or maybe their brains are so fried they're now stuck running at the wrong RPM. Either way, the aggression of the past has definitively given way to a psychedelia that's indolent, if still subtly unsettling. Practically every track bears this out, but especially a few ballads like "Nathan Livingston Maddox", which is Alexander "Skip" Spence even more than Alexander "Skip" Spence himself, or "Wake Up, It's Over", which basically sounds like Syd Barrett playing in my basement. There's just no getting around it: Sic Alps don't even try. Their sound is so genuinely retro it's almost endearing, if it weren't occasionally delirious, as on the energetic "The First White Man To Touch California Soil".

What sets them apart from other similar outfits is songwriting that's clearly a cut above average. "Cement Surfboard", "Do You Want To Give $$", "Meter Man", for instance, are genuine gems of irresistible psychedelic pop the likes of which we haven't heard in ages. What else is there to say? Great band. The group every fan of the most retro garage sound should listen to at least once in their life. Even those who think Soft Moon are worse than gonorrhea.

Ride the wave of great music

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18/01/2011

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Antonio Ciarletta, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition