OS NOCTAMBULOS - Stranger - album review

Os Noctàmbulos:
Stranger:
Stolen Body:
CD/Limited coloured vinyl:
Out July 15th:

Paris-based Os Noctàmbulos follow up their 2014 debut-album Corsica Garden with something of a departure and an uplift in both sound and confidence. With its roots firmly embedded in '60s garage-rock and psych-pop, Stranger is a bold, if retrospective, collection of fuzzy Farfisa-driven nuggets.

Not Everyone is an obvious pop classic that transcends the collective musical threshold of The Doors, Inspiral Carpets, 13th Floor Elevators and The Castaways, while Medication is a full-on pill-popping bong-smokin' hoedown that recalls Spiritualized at the most fervent. Singer Nick Wheeldon brings a degree of British blues and West Coast hollering to the mix, ably demonstrated on the rasping The Circle Ain't Broken and the insistent Handcuffs. It's all very much a potent gumbo of psychedelic hoodoo and mid-west voodoo.

And when Os Noctàmbulos aren't banging heads and knocking boots, they're crafting woozier country-rock on the likes of Control and the opener Changes, still retaining that spiralling rainbow-coloured hue throughout. If you'll step this way with your eyes, ears and open arms, this Stranger ain't no stranger anymore.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆