So let’s just get this out of the way: the band name isn’t great and the album title is six trochaic syllables of jarring consonants and insipid juxtaposition; but the music is gorgeous.

This gloriously infectious debut LP offers 31 minutes of post-psychedelic dream-pop that soars above the work of lesser indie outfits.

Sharing the vocal duties Brian Harding (formally of Hymns) and Amalie Bruun (formally of Minks) pay artful homage to their pop heroes while crafting a meticulous record that immediately sounds timeless.

Subtly tying things together is the disciplined psychedelic production work of John Siket (Phish, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth), who provides an ethereal texture upon which Harding and Bruun float their vibrant pop gems.

The album opens with the ominous industrial clamour of “S&HSXX (Intro)”, an incongruous piece of pulsating electro that in no way prepares the listener for the shimmering melodies to come.

The shamelessly catchy “James” is the first highlight, bouncing along with a breezy wide-eyed innocence that all but obscures the melancholic undertones.

“You Are A Lion, I Am A Lamb” evokes the best of Belle & Sebastian with its bitter-sweet boy/girl vocals and fable-like lyrics, while “Jazz & Information” sees the band channeling Spiritualized for a masterful foray into spacey shoegazing.

The appropriately named “Nico Beast” does honour to its eponym with subtle fuzz guitar and velvety drones, and “The Millionaire” draws dreamy comparisons with fellow Brooklynites Au Revoir Simone.

But the soaring highlight of the album is “Separator” with its wistful guitar riff striding across yearning Bilinda Butcher-style vocals.

Catchy without seeming facile, innocent without sounding naïve, and truly beautiful, True Hallucinations leads you through a connoisseur’s record collection while never sounding derivative or ironically retro.

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