Another in the army of bands playing drony, doomstruck pop full of echo and ennui, California's
Cosmonauts have clearly embraced the influence of
the Velvet Underground on a deeper level than their peers. Not only do they quote the lyrics from "Heroin" during "Sweet Talk," "My Alba" is a dead ringer for "Venus in Furs" if you stripped off the viola, and Fletcher Shears' drumming is just as steady as Moe Tucker's. And like
the Velvets,
Cosmonauts are willing to bear down on a simple jam and let the changes sink in as long as necessary for them to work, especially on longer numbers like "Sweet Talk" and "I'm So Bored with You," where guitarists Derek Cowart and Alexander Ahmadi let their simple patterns circle one another until they take on the hypnotic aspects of a garage-psych raga. There's something curiously artful in the simplicity of
Cosmonauts' melodies, drawing power from reinforcing simple frameworks, and enough of
Persona Non Grata hits the target that fans of the current garage-psych scene will want to check it out, especially when the band rocks on tunes like "What Me Worry?" ~ Mark Deming