CAVE – “San’ Yago”

Over the last few years Cooper Crain has been so enmeshed in his glycerin drone unit Bitchin’ Bajas and busy with production work its hard to remember that the man commanded one of the great prog psych bands of our time. CAVE returns with a new album this year on Drag City, just to remind us how sorely they are needed. First single from the upcoming Allways is a cosmic funk number that digs it’s boots into a groove and doesn’t let go. A velvet bass tugs at the tail of this cut. Crain’s keyboard runs fire somewhere between German Progressive and Italo Library psych. Surrounding it all a tangle of percussive poprocks and some air-cooled vocals help cement this into the kind of soundtrack that’s made to get stuck in the 8-track of your Pacer for all time.

Amplifying the ‘70s vibe, the band has worked up a video that’s splitting time between blurring lights and sepia toned travels through the country’s hot dog shacks and roadside greasy griddles. “San’ Yago” is CAVE stepping back atop the mountain of instrumental psych groovers and picking up their crown from the ash. This one is high on the list of albums to look out for in the second half of 2108.