Listening to Meet Your New Love, the debut album from Atlantic/Pacific, sonic references skitter across the frontal lobes like images flashed during a droog’s aversion therapy session in A Clockwork Orange. The Brooklyn duo-sometimes-trio flits impressively from sound to sound with an almost casual mastery, like a brilliantly evocative artist who paints in an expressionist style even though he possesses a draftsman’s gift for photorealism.
Like those crazy blind men and that elusively indescribable elephant, A/P evades all attempts to pin it down to a specific direction. Is it Space Rock? Neo Psych Folk? Ambient Soul Pop? Indie Rock? An intelligent but never overly clever combination of any or all of the above? In a word, yes.
As far as Indie circles are concerned, Atlantic/Pacific sports a fairly potent pedigree. The core duo consists of Texas is the Reason’s Garrett Klahn (in the late ’90s, he was with New Rising Sons) and House & Parish’s John Herguth, with production and musical assistance provided by Rival Schools’ Ian Love.
Atlantic/Pacific play MOTR Pub Thursday. Go here to read Brian Baker’s full Sound Advice recommendation.
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2010.
