Album Review

Haight-Ashbury – Perhaps

• 7th Jan 2013

Glasgow’s Haight-Ashbury release their third album, Perhaps, today (1 July 2013) on Lime Records. While the core sound is the same mix of sixties psychedelia and folk as on previous releases, this one somehow has a different feel. And for me it simply doesn’t work as well as past albums.

Perhaps this is due to the move away in the main from the trademark twin lead vocals of Jennifer Thompson and Kirsty Reid. On this album both sing tracks solo, as does guitarist Scott Reid, whose vocals we hear for the first time. Or perhaps it is the darker and more ambient tones that dominate many of the tracks, with the vocals often beneath layers of reverb heavy guitar and piano.

Opening track Poster Children has a swirling and confusing mix of sounds obscuring the vocals while a simple piano melody manages to make itself heard. Sepia Song also has an ambient feel, almost Eastern guitar over the vocals this time. These two tracks give the album a slow start and it never really manages to pick up the pace.

The first single Leylines does stand out, with its haunting effect and almost chanted vocals. Alibis sees Scott provide a nice guitar intro before his solid vocals come in, with Jen and Kirsty adding harmonies. Kicks also features Scott’s vocals, although once more they are low in the mix and indistinct. Kirsty takes the lead vocal on the five minute long I Am, another with Eastern influences, while Jen sings Family, a more guitar based song with heavy grunge like chords and a slower pace.

The album’s best tracks are the ones that are more typically Haight-Ashbury. Blow Your Mind is an upbeat sixties sounding psychedelic pop song of exactly the type that the band has done so well in the past. Can You Explain? has an Indian guitar sound and lovely vocals. And the closing Mayflower is slow and reflective; again the vocal work stands out, as does some fine guitar work.

I can fully understand a band wishing to experiment with its sound, and to use studio techniques to enhance its music. But for me this album loses a lot of the musical simplicity and clean vocal harmonies that make Haight-Ashbury an exciting band to listen to. Perhaps simply doesn’t have a Freeman Town or a Sophomore, the stand out tracks from the first two albums. It lacks a spark and never quite rises to the high standards of its predecessors.

Venue: Perhaps
Support Band: Lime Records