The follow-up to 2015's crowd-funded,
Mark Hallman-produced
Ode to Thinking, Sultans sees the British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter eschew the folksy Americana leanings of past outings for something a bit more Beatlesque. In a nod to
Sgt. Pepper's,
Long bookends the ten-song set with two iterations of the title track; a slow building, paisley-pop confection with hints of Eastern mysticism and a very "I Am the Walrus"-inspired gait.
Long has been up front about the album's Fab Four connection, citing his formative years spent in rural Southwest England as an emotional and cultural through-line, but there are still shades of
Leonard Cohen and
Bob Dylan to be found behind all of the studio experimentation and skiffle beats -- the soulful "Love" hews closest to the big-hearted country-folk of past outings. Some of the time
Long comes off as a gruffer and more muscular
M. Ward, especially on the fuzzed-out "Serpentine" and "Mazarati," but the majority of Sultans has its feet firmly planted in the 1960s. Caught somewhere between swirling,
Roy Orbison Brill Building pop ("Goodbye") and bluesy,
Abbey Road-inspired guitar rock ("Nautical"), Sultans can feel a bit apocryphal, but
Long and producer and frequent collaborator Jack Dawson inject the project with enough character that even at its most self-referential, it feels like the product of loving parents. ~ James Christopher Monger