Faceless Lazers

Consisting of multiple songwriters, each with a different slant on hazy prog rock, the Faceless Lazers’ sophomore effort is a dizzying affair. The Orangeville/Guelph, ON-based collective are disciples of Jim Guthrie’s homemade touch and earnest, emotional approach to songwriting. They also share his penchant for liberated music, as songs twist and turn modes of familiar pop and rock with gleeful freedom. The distorted, post-apocalyptic hoedown of "1308” is grin inducing, while the swinging pop of "F Chord” has a surprising underbelly of grit sustaining it. The band flirt with free jazz on the Zeppelin-esque "California Rockdown” and there are few songs as infectious as the spirited rocker "I Hate You on Mondays.” True to their geographic origins, the Flazers come off a little bit rural, but possess some real tough edges. Conjuring the Energy Ball is an inventive blast of stoner rock that is refreshingly unselfconscious.