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Dec 13, 2013 Diane Coffee By Lily Moayeri

Diane Coffee is the alter ego of Shaun Fleming, recently seen behind Foxygen’s drumkit. Fleming—who also had a spell voicing Disney characters in shows like Kim Possible—put together his Coffee debut, My Friend Fish, in two weeks. The album is a soundtrack of Fleming’s relocation from the West to the East Coast, and although it was recorded in a cramped Manhattan apartment, the album’s heart lies in the hazy, psychedelic California coastline of half a decade ago.

Fleming credits The Beatles, The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Bill Withers for the origination of My Friend Fish‘s sound, which is lo-fi in execution yet grand in impact. The album’s gospel-powered, dreamy bent also takes cues from the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver. A dusty yet lively organ runs frantically through “New Years.” In the next breath Fleming goes soulful on “All the Young Girls,” but manages to throw in a good dose of distortion along the way. All is quiet on the lullaby-like “When It’s Known,” where Fleming softly sings his way to dreamland, and “WWWoman” has a spooky, theatrical turn. The switch between crackling and soothing happens more than a few times on My Friend Fish‘s brief half-hour run, which stops it from becoming too repetitive—even if the album’s ethos doesn’t stray too far from that of Foxygen’s retro one. (www.westernvinyl.com/artists/dianecoffee.html)

Author rating: 6/10