OS NOCTAMBULOS

Paris-based Os Noctàmbulos follow up their 2014 debut-album Corsica Garden with something of a departure and an uplift in both sound and confidence. With its roots firmly embedded in '60s garage-rock and psych-pop, Stranger is a bold, if retrospective, collection of fuzzy Farfisa-driven nuggets.

Not Everyone is an obvious pop classic that transcends the collective musical threshold of The Doors, Inspiral Carpets, 13th Floor Elevators and The Castaways, while Medication is a full-on pill-popping bong-smokin' hoedown that recalls Spiritualized at the most fervent. Singer Nick Wheeldon brings a degree of British blues and West Coast hollering to the mix, ably demonstrated on the rasping The Circle Ain't Broken and the insistent Handcuffs. It's all very much a potent gumbo of psychedelic hoodoo and mid-west voodoo.

And when Os Noctàmbulos aren't banging heads and knocking boots, they're crafting woozier country-rock on the likes of Control and the opener Changes, still retaining that spiralling rainbow-coloured hue throughout. If you'll step this way with your eyes, ears and open arms, this Stranger ain't no stranger anymore.

This review also appeared on Flipside Reviews

Paul PLEDGER
11/12/2016