Spine Hits is the third album from San Francisco psychedelic warriors
Sleepy Sun, and their first following powerful co-vocalist Rachel Fannan's departure from the band. Fannan's absence is notable, but not to the degree where the band sounds like a completely different act altogether. They're still dealing in the same drony acid rock and textural guitar tone tapestries that defined their earlier material, owing much to the pioneers of '60s San Fran psychedelia. Singer Brett Constantino steps up to handle full vocal duties swimmingly, with a style that floats between hallucinatory echoes and a primal growl. On their debut album,
Embrace,
Sleepy Sun tempered all-out stoner rock jams with carefully placed quieter numbers, pacing out their heaviness in a metered way that made the album much more digestible and interesting. That practice is intact here. Album opener "Stivey Pond" oozes out in crunchy strands of guitar and Constantino's raw, husky vocals, the song coming off like a lost
Jane's Addiction track. The subtle influence of early-'90s indie psyche bands like
the Verve,
Slowdive, and even the most mantra-esque of the early
Smashing Pumpkins recordings lends a sense of melody to the band's
Sabbath-worshiping riffery. "Boat Trip" is the album's strongest moment, a gently treading meeting of spacy
Fleet Foxes-style harmonies and buried aquatic melodies cribbed from post-
SMiLE-era
Brian Wilson mania. ~ Fred Thomas