There are some names that swim into view and expect never to really resurface. I’d been a fan of El Goodo’s 2005 eponymous LP, which vaulted itself out of a post-Elephant 6 comedown of psych reverence around that time and waxed the sounds with a shine of power pop that was fitting for a band named for a Big Star tune. The Welsh band played to the Nuggets set with bigger aspirations than some of their US counterparts, but despite a verdant valley for garage-pop at the time, they never took root here and thus faded from view. A 2010 follow-up didn’t even wash on these shores and a discernible silence for the better part of the next decade makes their new album on Cian Ciaran’s (Super Furry Animals) label a swift surprise.
The album is still locked into a fixation on ’60s psychedelia, though cut now with a bit of temperament and an apparent implementation of the ramblin’ twang that sunk in towards the early ’70s. They’re no longer so overt as to saddle song with the title, “Stuck in the ’60s,” but they’re still clearly pining for simpler pop times. They’ve slunk into territory once occupied by Beachwood Sparks – finding equal obsessions with The Beach Boys and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Though, they certainly hew closer to the former, finding more use for multi-track pop than for country proper. They thread that high plains tone nicely throughout the entirety of By The Order Of The Moose, though and it suits them. As with all revival acts, they’re jumping into shoes that have been worn by another owner, but they make them look awfully good in a modern setting.
Support the artist. Buy it HERE.
