Like a drunken beach party with one too many special cigarettes, ‘Up From Below’ exudes a certain sun-drenched coolness.
It’s like stepping back in time to an age when all the girls wore flowery dresses and no self-respecting man about town would be seen dead without a Jackson Browne LP under his arm.
The world was definitely a cooler place to be back then, before anyone had heard of the Internet, George W. Bush or Britney Spears.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros might not the first band this to surf the wave of nostalgia this year. Californians Delta Spirit made the music press drool earlier this year with an insanely fine slice of retro-country rock with their ‘Ode To Sunshine’ collection, but while their thing was Laurel Canyon-esque country rock – albeit with trashcan lids – this is more psychedelic.
Actually, make that way more psychedelic: you would need to consume an awful lot of Scooby Snacks to get this chilled-out. At times ‘Up From Below’ makes ‘Pet Sounds’ sound positively aggressive. It owes an awful lot to the genius of people like Brian Wilson, with each song bathed in vocal harmonies, whistles and horns.
There is a lot of love in the room, so be warned! You keep expecting each track to end with the immortal words “group hug” – although, sadly, that never happens.
Like all the best beach parties, it does lose its way towards the end. Fewer tracks would have made for a more focussed album, but along the way there are many memorable moments. Songs like ‘Home’ and ’40 Day Dream’ are note-perfect sing-alongs. They might be modern-day retro-rock revivalists, but they know their onions.
It’s a great concept and the band members are now working on short films for all of the album’s 13 tracks, which will be interesting to watch.
There can be little doubt that Edward Sharpe and his merry people want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. As the world continues to ‘go Pete Tong’, they could find plenty of people out there who would like to join them around the campfire. Peace and love, everyone. Peace and love!
7/10
