![_There's A Hair In My Psychedelic Psoup: Ty Segall and White Fence at the Mohawk [Show Preview]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2012/05/tysegallwhitefence-thumb-250x250-716638.jpeg)
Reviewed: Sleep Good - Skyclimber
Sleep Good is mostly the nom-de-plume of one Will Patterson, who has been a consistent force in local motorik-pop outfits Sunset and Sound Team. Now, with a fourth album under his belt (the previous installments have been cassette or CD-R releases) and accompaniment by a regular supporting cast, at the very least it's no longer a "side project." Indeed, the releases of a few years ago (starting roughly when Patterson was a teenager) were ostensibly solo outings, while Skyclimber is more the result of a band and a modicum of regular work.
To relate Sleep Good directly to Sunset from an aesthetic standpoint would be incomplete, considering the rubbery, pared down and sunny disposition that pervades the album, an almost tossed-off feel that is counter to the prog and Van Dyke Parks orchestrations of the latter. That's not to say there aren't direct connections - snatches of anthemic minimalism and Krautrock-y nods occur, such as in pieces like "Starbrnt" and "Fractl," which could be Faust IV outtakes. Also, whereas Sunset is wrought with singular vision, two of the songs here were penned by band members Michael Bain (guitars) and Willis McClung (bass). The latter is the principal instigator towards Skyclimber's lived-in, rock-and-roll legs, and also the group's bassist.
"Hey Man," the set's opener, is a bright island gallop and its whimsical lyrics are closest to Kevin Ayers rendering a Brian Wilson tune (or vice versa). Glockenspiel, mandolin, bass and drums provide a jittery backing for Patterson's crisp, unaffected delivery, with bass and athletic drums giving spry rhythmic relief. A psychedelic kaleidoscope emerges in "Schlittterbahn's" naif analog brilliance and gradual, gauzy and wholly organic lushness. "Showerstreams" (which contains a riff also found in Sunset's "Diamond Studded Castles") hews close to the textures of Joni Mitchell's Hissing of Summer Lawns at the outset before a near-calypso beat emerges.
The tunes are mostly short and, though there are frequently at least one or two notable textural shifts going on, the structure is quite limber and doesn't dwell on grandeur. To put it another way, Sleep Good lives within its means, which isn't to say that the arrangements don't open up a number of possibilities and aesthetic rabbit holes. Even when a driving rhythm section isn't present, the keyboards, guitars, cello and vocals do just fine in keeping a clipped pace while maintaining delicate radiance Skyclimber is a beautiful, affirmative and entirely straightforward record, the likes of which aren't made often enough in contemporary pop music.
Skyclimber is currently available as a download release on Autobus Records, and will be available on vinyl and CD on August 24.
