Space Flower

Sound DNA

• Rock

About

English cult faves The Wild Swans returned after their sugary Smiths–meets–New Order 1988 debut with an album that turned a romanticized gaze to late-’60s California. Beyond all the psych-pop Mellotrony trappings (“Tangerine Temple,” “Butterfly Girl,” “Chocolate Bubblegum”), the lyrics sound like descriptions of images found in a Viewmaster 3D Viewer (“She’s like a candle half burned blue/She’s my love flavored melting blue delicious”). That's not to say the album is bad; the opposite is true. Beautifully produced by Lightning Seeds main man Ian Broudie, these songs have a sweetness that’ll catch you in a kind of daydream you otherwise wouldn’t be having. “I’m a Lighthouse” is a thing of giddy beauty, with no irony in the droning guitar hooks and hold-my-hand lyrics. Papa John Phillips and even Ian McCulloch would’ve been proud to have penned “The Magic Hotel” or “Immaculate.” The whole thing is the idea of peace and love and Pacific Ocean blue filtered through, of all places, Northern England in 1990.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

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