Sudden Death of Stars – All Unrevealed Parts of the Unknown

Everything the Sudden Death of Stars do is not so much tinged but teeming with a sepia tone. The Rennes sextet exist in that increasingly inclusive realm of psych-pop but All Unrevealed Parts of the Unknown, their debut for the achingly hip Ample Play Records, sounds more of a homage to the bands influenced by psychedelia and garage rather than the source itself.

Accordingly, standout track Over The Top boasts guitar arpeggios and duelling solos like Television on fast forward; Why Won’t You Try features murmured vocals hidden beneath the shimmering guitars à la the Feelies and the whole thing is punctuated by organ trills and stabs, sitar detours and – when you do get to hear him – a curiously mannered, English-accented lead vocalist, rather like how Eno half sang, half spoke on his early solo albums. The album is hypnotic and often glorious; the melodies do blend into each other after a while but this is no bad thing, All Unrevealed Parts of the Unknown is a warm and joyous evocation of an ersatz era. [Colm McAuliffe]