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Sep 25, 2014 Issue #51 - September/October 2014 - alt-J By Mack Hayden

Gulp‘s Season Sun is to psychedelic rock what low-THC marijuana is to psychedelic drugs. For those who devote their life to the appreciation of deeper strains of experimentation, it may come off as a bit derivative and entry-level. But to those who don’t, it’s the perfect sampler to see if you want to go deeper, stay at this level, or give up entirely.

Guto Pryce (of Super Furry Animals) and his wife Lindsey Leven decided to record under the name Gulp after years of helping each other out on various musical ideas. It’s hard to speak ill of a project based in matrimonial love, but Season Sun‘s sound can come across a bit like Pryce and Leven started a Pandora station based on Tame Impala, found out about Real Estate along the way, and one spouse said to the other, “Honey, let’s make something that sounds like that!”

Luckily, that is still enjoyable to listen to. Music doesn’t have to be groundbreaking to be impressive. The desert showdown songs “Vast Space” and “Play” are their most idiosyncratic entries into the contemporary psych pop catalogue and slow jam “Grey Area” is a lazy river you won’t want to miss floating down. For a band named Gulp, they don’t exactly leave you parched for more but neither do they come up dry. (www.gulpgulp.co.uk)

Author rating: 6.5/10