With closed eyes, one note from this acid-licked psych tune will have you convinced you’re sitting in a room of shag carpet, black light posters on wood-paneled walls, and tangerine-colored furniture. A group who could have opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock (or be confused for them), Austin “schitzo-pop” outfit the Sun Machine have made a career making music that sounds more at home in 1967, rarely incorporating any style or influence that remotely gives their music away as a 21st century creation.
“The Wasp” is an extension of that sound. Organ? Check. Sitar? Check mate. Frontman Purple Pharaoh’s vocals wash into the mix, lower in volume than any of the music surrounding it, completing that feeling of complete de-personalization. Plugging into this psych-rock groover will have you seeing (or feeling) waves of fuchsia, teal, and goldenrod– sink into that bean bag and embrace it.
“The Wasp” appears on Turn On to Evil, out later this year.
The Sun Machine plays the Barracuda on Thursday, May 4, part of the Levitation mini-festival happening downtown this weekend. Golden Dawn Arkestra headlines and curates tonight’s bill.
-Taylor Wallace
