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Sun Atoms - Let There Be Light

07/10/21

Portland, Oregon's Jsun Atoms (The Upside Down, Daydream Machine) takes a leap of faith and knocks one letter off his name for this, his first solo release. Buoyed by the recent resurgence in all things psych, Let There Be Light shines from the off with opener The Cat's Eye, featuring Black Angels' Alex Maas on mellotron. The track is a trippy slice of decadence that journeys straight inside your own head before shooting seamlessly into Half Robot Half Butterfly, a schizophrenic sojourn with feedback guitars and jaunty rhythms, and vocals that remind of Pulp's Jarvis Cocker. Elsewhere Jsun growls like Mark Lanegan, although Fell For You also manages to harness the essence of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac.

Don't Take Me To Your Leader adopts a train-like rhythm and, again, features low-slung vocals languidly layered over an electro-beat as Atoms takes an imaginative look at evolutionary process. It might have come straight off a noughties Goldfrapp album, were it not for competing influences sourced from the likes of Arcade Fire, Stone Roses and Dandy Warhols (in fact, the whole album is produced by the Dandy's guitarist, Peter Holmström).

Eight tracks that will find favour with most new arrivals at the psych-music ball, but be less impressive for those who have attended in the past.

7/10