Southpacific

There are two things about falling into the trap of summing up Ottawa space rock band Southpacific by a list of whom their sound recalls: first, it’s easy (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine); second, it’s not really fair to the vision and instinctive musicianship demonstrated by the trio. On this, their first full-length recording (following up the 33 EP recorded shortly after they formed), the band builds and expands on their trippy inspirations. Feedback gives way to a low end hum that sometimes pulses subsonically more than it really grooves — although the warm gooey feeling it invokes is the same — and the drift and flow of individual tracks often blends together. Their finest moments are when they step out of the stream-of-consciousness and really let themselves explore, which happens often enough, but more importantly, interestingly enough to make sure you keep listening to Southpacific.