A Brooklyn outfit spearheaded by the multi-instrumentalist Phil Jacob, Psychic Lines on this fifth album explores the countless delusions we hold onto during our lives, and while welcoming Dann Baker and Tim Simmonds to the 8 diverse songs.
“Lies I Tell Myself” begins the listen with a warm jangle, before Simmonds’ gentle drums enter alongside Jacob’s cozy singing that touches on the early days of indie-rock. “LA Mind” then follows with a more muscular approach that makes great use of Baker’s skilled bass, where a gentle and melodic approach to melody won’t go unappreciated.
Landing in the middle, the rich and dreamy “In The Trunk Of A Chevrolet” embraces some psych-pop ideas that come with vivid storytelling, while “The Darkest Mountain” is an upbeat and crisp display of tuneful and smooth alt-folk nods. “Triage” is another song with much care, intimacy even, where maturity and fluidity from the trio’s cozy interaction even has Jacob playing sax.
The last two tracks maintain the sharp songwriting and memorable progressions present across the entire record. “Austin Millbarge” resides somewhere between pop, indie, folk and even retro rock, and “Everyone’s A Critic” finishes with radiant and subdued guitar playing that suits the dense bass and meticulous drums. The sax is particularly luminous and unpredictable here, too.
Jacob also plays in Vague Pilot and handles keys and kalimba in addition to vocals, guitar and sax. The songs here were captured in a pair of sessions and tracked live, though you wouldn’t know it from the outstanding sound quality. Like much of the creative music coming out of Brooklyn these days, Psychic Lines are not easy to classify, but certainly will appeal to fans of psych, pop, alt-rock, indie-folk or even various forms of jazz.
