Night Jammer

The echoey billows of fuzz and clamor that 's guitar brought to the late and lamented has found a new home in the group , and their debut album is a compelling amalgam of garage punk and gritty psychedelia, full of potent atmosphere and raw but satisfying sounds. It's impressive just how deep and how muscular sound, given their somewhat unusual lineup. dominates the arrangements with his guitar, and his accompanists are a keyboard player named and a drummer known (both also play in ). The low end on is more felt than heard, without a bass or a second guitar on hand, yet at its best this music is towering; the trio generates a wall of skronky majesty despite their limited numbers. As a songwriter, 's melodies are streamlined but sturdy, and they give him plenty of room to explore the territory with his guitar. isn't a chops-intensive six-string hero, but he can wrench the right kind of sounds from his instrument, and what he lays out here is strong and effective. The mix pushes the lyrics down far enough to make them play second fiddle to the music, but these performances are powerfully eloquent in their cool fury, with the jagged sounds in the front adding plentiful textures to the firm foundation of 's keys and 's traps. And for a band decisively short on hard rock moves, "Behind the Eyes" is about as heavy as it gets; running through nine tracks in 37 minutes, sounds like it's still working itself up to a big finish when "Recluse" comes to a close. As an opening salvo from , this music shows they have style, ideas, and potential to spare. ~ Mark Deming