For a contemporary Norwegian band,
Dog Age tread a fine line in vintage British psychedelia of the Carnaby Street era. They seem to have little use for extended lysergic jams of the San Francisco style, as
Reefy Seadragon consists of 13 groovy little three-minute pop songs, 11 originals, and faithfully trippy covers of
George Harrison's "Blue Jay Way" and
Donovan's "Cosmic Wheels." The unfailingly melodic tunes are decorated with out-front sitar parts ("The American Line"),
Hendrix-like wah-wah guitar ("God Lives Under the River") and fanciful, childlike lyrics from the
Syd Barrett stylebook ("Mystical George"). Primary singer Harald Beckstrom has just the kind of wide-eyed, innocent-sounding voice that this style requires, and his three bandmates provide dead-on harmonies where applicable. The album's press kit makes comparisons to
the Olivia Tremor Control and
Neutral Milk Hotel, but for all of those bands' many fine points, they were always too lo-fi and musically ragged to create an album as concise and richly detailed as
Reefy Seadragon. Psych heads should be all over this one.