Visitors

Album review

2018's Visitors is Triptides sixth album, and the L.A.-by-way-of-Indiana band exhibits no discernable drop in quality, delivering another gloriously trippy slice of bedroom psych-pop. The duo of Glenn Brigman and Josh Menashe hold true to their vision of re-creating the swirling sounds of late-'60s U.K. groups like Tomorrow and Pink Floyd, while keeping the whimsy on a low boil. Instead, there's a rock-hard toughness under the jangling 12-string guitars, biting six-strings, and wistful voices that gives the album a kick and provides a very solid foundation from which to launch their tuneful flights of fancy. And the songs are quite fanciful, whether the band is in full daydream mode like on "Saturday Far Away" or "My Friend," rollicking gently as on "All My Life," or kicking up paisley swirls on rockers like "Mary Anne," their melodies are sticky sweet and the hooks are sharp. This album seems a little more cleaned up than some of their earlier work, but they still show a mastery at crafting echoing, atmospheric sounds that complement their tunes perfectly. The new twist to their approach brings the band a step or two out of the bedroom and lends an air of professionalism to the record. It's not far from the sound bands like Plasticland or the Rain Parade had in the '80s, and that's high praise. Those bands conjured up the sounds of their psychedelic heroes without sounding like slavish imitators, they used modern recording techniques wisely, and they got a full, rich sound most bands in the '60s couldn't come close to. Triptides do all those things too, and against the odds, they keep getting better. Visitors is their best-sounding record to date and anyone with even a passing interest in psych-pop should start here, then work back through the rest of the band's impressive catalog.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo