Thelightshines - Before the Sandman Sung (2015) review

Thelightshines - Before the Sandman Sung (2015)

Anyone who’s ever chemically laced the night knows what it’s like when the walls stop moving, the colours become less brilliant, and with a sigh, reality ebbs in, replacing a nocturnal adventure with tired eyes, and a head longing for the comfort of a pillow, where in the morning, all things will be as they were ... save for the unfocused memories of the night before.  And as you lay there, facedown in your pillow, attempting and failing to block out the long fingers of the sun as it creeps in through your window, unexpected flashes momentarily dance across the back of your eyelids, causing a smile to inch across your face. Before The Sandman Sung is that smile, Before The Sandman Sung is the sun warming your face, reminding you of how blissful the album Now The Sandman Sings was.

And while Before The Sandman Sung is an EP of material that couldn’t be squeezed onto the album, along with bits that are still taking shape and gathering form, this compilation is well worth your while, it’s an adventure in its own right, and will aid you in comfortably winding down, and welcoming the new day.

Review made by Jenell Kesler/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015

Thelightshines - Now the Sandman Sings (2014) review

Thelightshines - Now the Sandman Sings (The Great Pop Supplement, 2014)

Listen: http://www.thelightshinesband.com/now-the-sandman-sings/

On first listen, the shivers that ran down my spine, the visions that danced across the irises of my eyes, and the colours that morphed across my ceiling, assured me Thelightshines had transported me back to California, smack dab in the middle of the psychedelic heyday with their intoxicating lushly layered etherial jangling release Now The Sandman Sings.

The album floats waist deep in the dream-pop sensibilities that gave way to shimmering star filled nights along the San Francisco bay, where for but an all too brief moment, we thought we could both save and change the world.  Now 40 years out, Thelightshines have brought back that magic, parted the curtains, and allowed a big ol’ smiling moon to roll across the night sky to delight the senses, alter the subconscious, and conjure what’s laid sleeping in my heart for far to long.

There’s a complex simpleness to this music, making it almost impossible to grasp, like a hallucination hanging just out of reach, almost touchable, but not quite.  Once over, the album feels like the distant memory of something you once knew, a space you once lived in, and a language you once spoke ... and impossible not to play again, if for no other reason, than to assure yourself that the music actually exists.

***

Green Vinyl Reprint 2015, Silk Screened Jacket, Hand Numbered Edition of 250 ...

Review made by Jenell Kesler/2015

© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2015