New Record Release: The Whitsundays

The Edmonton, Canada new-psych-pop outfit, the Whitsundays, just released their eponymous debut LP on Friendly Fire Recordings (the label that brought us the beautiful Asobi Seksu and Faunts to name a couple).

Everything about the band is somehow ... off. Just the thought of a stupendous psych-pop band a la the Zombies with a summery twist of Beach Boys from Alberta is sort of weird. But psychedelic music is more contemplative and dark than listeners assume initially. The Whitsundays' songs, while dripping with pitch-perfect harmonies, saturated, melodious guitar hooks, warbley organ lines and bass routines, and clear, minimalist drum breaks -- in short, everything a poppy summer psych-song circa 1966 needs -- are almost eerie and cold in nature. Take the below "Loralee," for example. It plod along at a sunny, bright pace yet winds up making you feel pretty damn ... down, am I right?

I guess that's appropriate, though. It's super rainy in L.A. -- weird -- the world is dark and cruel ... the Whitsundays may sound like some lost 60s artifact, but they're very much a relic of our present.

I don't mean to end on an ominous note, though. Pick the record up right here. You will not regret it.

the Whitsundays - Loralee

the Whitsundays - Sorry James