Sand Pebbles + Free City Eastern Terrace review

Here’s another great release from Tony Dale’s influential Camera Obscura label. The Sand Pebbles, from Melbourne, Australia, have made good on the promise of their first EP with a full-length album that brims with the band’s collective enthusiasm for all kinds of music. The sense of a group of friends having fun with genre busting is evident even in the more serious moments on Eastern Terrace. Elements of all types of rock and soul are blended with electronic beats, exotic melodies, and ‘60s soundtrack expansiveness in fresh, engaging ways.

The opening track "My Sensation" is an irresistible song that sure sounds like a hit single. Andrew Tanner’s falsetto vocals and easy guitar riffing make me think of Pavement playing the Stones playing Smokey Robinson. Ben Michael X’s 1979 string synth and guest Beck Zack’s mellotron add a layer of sugary space. The "Do do do" harmonies after the chorus can stick in your mind indefinitely. We at Free City like this song so much that we've added it to the line up for our own compilation CD The International League Of Telepathic Explorers.

"Out Of My Mind On Dope & Speed" is a Julian Cope cover given the full multifaceted Sand Pebbles treatment. Christmas Hollow’s bass line recalls "Funky Town" while Ben Michael’s synth sounds like a sped up Hawkwind. Tanner sings with a Ray Davies twang as each line is followed by a near gospel backing chorus. Piet Collins’ slap happy but precise drumbeats add to the twisted revival meeting mood. This second incredible track in a row makes it clear that "My Sensation" was not a fluke.

The melancholy "Moving Too Fast" appears in two versions: a full band arrangement that becomes an extended gently zoned out jam where tremolo guitars ring out like bells, and the album closing "director’s cut" stripped down to just Tanner’s plaintive vocals and guest Clare Moore’s understated strings and brass. "Dirty" fills out the vocal songs on the album with a crooning verse and restrained country beat that put this track somewhere between Neil Young and Nick Cave. The refrain "on a good day I could stay forever" aptly conveys a sense of contentment in an imperfect world.

In addition to the vocal tracks, Eastern Terrace contains a number of fine instrumental tracks that go off in other directions. Asian sounding drones loop over a catchy bass line and chopped and processed drums on "One Time At Sundown". A keyboard restates the melody suggested by the bass to bring this brief track home. "The Big V" glides along like the triumphant closing scene of a spaghetti western with guest Sophie Viskich’s haunting wordless vocals carrying the beautiful melody. Collins’ drums are particularly impressive, reaching a passionate peak without drowning out the subtle instruments around him. "Charmed" has a rock played as electronica arrangement similar to Hood, with some odd samples thrown in for good measure.

The album’s possible highlight is "The Sundowner", a more elaborate restatement of the memorable tune from "One Time At Sundown". Starting with a long drone and eventually building into a blissful art-electronic groove, this track has a sweeping Boom Boom Satellites quality. Tanner’s bowed (or e-bowed?) guitar provides an interesting cross rhythm that rebels against the smoothness of the song while adding to its hypnotic vortex.

Keyboard player Ben Michael X recent mentioned to me that he feels like not enough people are willing to combine unexpected elements in music these days. He said that The Sand Pebbles’ aim with this album was to cover a lot of ground musically. With a wide range of vocal tracks and a separate instrumental style, they have certainly succeeded.