For lovers of Space Rock and modern psychedelia, all the right elements are here on the debut from Californian 5 piece, Innaway. Shimmering underwater guitar refrains, multi-layered vocal harmonies delivered in a hazey bliss, coupled with steady snare drops (and drum machines on several tracks). Imagine if you would, the very fist Verve album “A Storm In Heaven” if it were mixed by Tortoise’s John McEntire (as this album indeed was!) then given a modern production twist, and you’re onto a really heady listen that will appeal to the more cerebral sound lovers out there. The tunes here deliver constant surprises. “Tiny Brains”, contains a mean fuzz bass and a haunted choral voice crying out underneath the band’s vocalist, Jim Schwarz, who’s repeating the refrain “losin’ my tiny brain in my tiny room” before breaking down into a dub coda. Nice stuff. Elsewhere, we hear blues harps, stretched out instrumental passages and guitar lead breaks that are never showy or annoying.
What makes this album so immediately likeable is the combination of the production (the electronic elements always appear as a real surprise), a vocalist who can actually sing and is never overbearing, and enough psychedelic sounds and structures to encourage repeated spins. To be absolutely fair, this release is best considered “space rock” in spirit, as most of the tunes are around the 3 minute mark and it is a rather short and mellowed affair, but a very strong debut from an interesting outfit.
*
