Evangelicals

If Flaming Lips released an entire album with sugar-spiked variations of "Do You Realize?” with guest appearances by members of Polyphonic Spree and the Attractions… well maybe not, but almost. The Lips comparison is especially tempting given their common Oklahoma home base, but the Evangelicals also share the big open hearted exuberance and sneaky yet guileless psychedelia of their distant cousins. The trio of early-to-mid-20somethings clearly have big puffy sleeves from which they can pull delicate and sprightly ’80s twee guitar lines and slide them next to almost grating emo/electro synth runs. All of this is splashed over stretched and squiggly soundscapes and topped with occasionally falsetto vocals. It shouldn’t work but often does despite the over packing involved. Ghosts of the most overblown Elephant Six works (Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control) haunt the Evangelicals’ harmony, though without the tendency to multi-instrumentation. Their neatest trick is that, with minimal alterations in approach they conjure innumerable fellow-travellers, i.e. "Diving” reminds of vintage Unrest while "What an Actress Does Best” pivots around a weird amalgam of Stone Roses bagginess, ’60s frug and Nuggets garage rock. Get your floaties on, ’cause your head may be swimming.