Haight-Ashbury – Here in the Golden Rays

Album Review by Paul Neeson | 28 Oct 2010
Album title: Here in the Golden Rays
Artist: Haight-Ashbury
Label: Lime Records
Release date: 8 Nov

With accents that sound distinctly more Pacific than Scottish West Coast, and a misnomer borrowed from San Francisco’s historic, hippy-harbouring suburb, one could be forgiven for missing Haight-Ashbury’s home-grown credentials. However, given the quality of the Glaswegian trio’s debut, it seems pertinent to impress that they do in fact hail from Scottish soil.

That said, there’s barely a hint of influence from this side of the pond on Here in the Golden Rays, as from the first bars of opening gambit, Freeman Town, the album drenches itself in a rounded history of the America’s musical heritage from the sixties to date, with heart-flipping indie grrrl harmonies, grunged-up guitars, bastardised psych-folk, and shimmering L.A. rock all on show. And whilst accusations of regurgitation aren’t quite without foundation, they’re rendered redundant in the face of an album which so astutely and wonderfully reworks such a vast span of influence. [Paul Neeson]

Playing King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow on 25 Nov;  The Doghouse, Dundee on 26 Nov; Cafe Drummond, Aberdeen on 27 Nov and Electric Circus, Edinburgh on 28 Nov.

http://www.myspace.com/haightashburyuk