An inspired meeting of two generations of artists defined and shaped by San Francisco, this split album between legendary street performer/outsider artist
the Space Lady
(aka
Susan Dietrich Schneider
) and psych-garage rockers
Burnt Ones
makes the most of their kindred dreaminess. The collaboration follows
Schneider
's 2015 tour, and she keeps her first recordings in over a decade as simple and evocative as the music that originally captured the hearts of anyone who heard her. She touches on some of her classic covers here, and as always, her style is so unique that she makes them her own. Her timeless, ageless style -- soft, motherly vocals and sparse Casio tones shrouded in reverb -- allows the innate poignancy of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and
David Bowie
's "Starman" to blossom like never before, and makes
the Beatles
' "Across the Universe" even more mystical. Meanwhile, the brand-new "The Next Right Thing"'s pragmatic approach to flower child ideals ("Commune with nature/Sit and breathe") calls to mind the mix of earnestness and creativity in the music of fellow outsider faves
Bruce Haack
and
Miss Nelson
. Though
is a tough act to follow,
hold their own. Their dense sonics make their half of the album feel like the fog rolling in on a previously starry night, but their songs are just as serene: the soft motorik of "The Good Life" suggests cruising along an Autobahn made of clouds. Later, their cover of
's signature song "Synthesize Me," which balances the original's stark innocence with a more narcotic,
Spacemen 3
-like euphoria, shows that they're nearly as gifted at interpreting others' songs as she is. This is a gentle album in the best and truest sense of the word, and a very special collaboration. ~ Heather Phares