Nectarine

The latest sepia hued perspective on music comes care of Coloured Clocks, or James Wallace to his mum.  

This Melbourne lad is winding back time on his second LP Nectarine (pun intended) to the psychedelic sixties. The beauty of this is that it’s simultaneously retro and totally on trend.

Thanks to groups like Tame Impala and Pond who have weaned us on the genre and brought it back to massive popularity, this album, even during its most tripped out and incoherent moments, is very likeable.

There’s no way to get around the fact there are plenty of similarities to be drawn between Coloured Clocks and his peers – the heavy Beatles influence, the complicated song structures and  guitars that sound like aeroplanes taking off.

Even his modus operandi is Kevin Parker style, i.e. he records solo but plays with a band.

However, rather than just imitate the aforementioned groups, which you may suspect upon first listen with his unmistakably Nick Allbrook-esque vocals, Wallace has incorporated features of other genres in order to stand apart.

For example, listen for elements of chillwave on tracks like “Uncovered Sun” or slacker rock on the the eleven minute epic “Icecream”, both of which perfectly compliment the languid characteristics of Wallace’s approach to psych.

There’s even of a few moments of nineties balladry (“Orion”) and vintage pop harmonies (“Maze”).

Mixed with the surreal lyrics, extreme reverb and keys typical of psychedelic music, Wallace has created a layered release that reveals itself gradually and is subsequently more endearing with each listen.

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