A Psychedelic Sun Kissed Trip
They say that ignorance is bliss and sometimes they just might have a point. Take Coley Park for example. Melding quirky folk to a psychedelia trip, this is a band that have harnessed the sound of America's West Coast to the quaintness of the English countryside making for an album that all but releases its own rays of sunshine as it dances around playfully, brimming with nostalgia, blimey even their name offers a slight hint of a sun drenched beach and a haze of woozy sing-along. Oh how wrong you can be. You see sometimes its best not to know too much and Coley Park is living proof as somehow, somewhere a little bit of the sheen and mystic of the band vanishes when you discover they took their name from the Reading suburb from which they hail. Thank goodness then their music isn't so misleading.
Shimmering with a child like naivety and innocence, Coley Park joyously marry psychedelia with wave upon wave of sun kissed America just in time to seduce us all as summer hits. Getting things underway with 'Hip Hip Hooray', the five Reading lads waste no time in unleashing pop hooks galore as a catchy choruses welds itself to a touch of 60s nostalgia. It's the perfect tune for a day in the sunshine as psychedelia ebbs through a folk fuelled base to give a idyllic sound unlike anything else plugging the airwaves. 'I Never Believed A Word You Said' takes things a step further as it unburdens a psychedelic trip that unashamedly blasts and stomps by way of introduction as trumpets bulldoze their way through some sweet honed "la,la,las" as 'I Never Believed A Word You Said' proceeds to whack you with 1000 volts before tenderly kissing you better. With a blissed out tempo that radiates a sense of mellowness from every jangling beat, 'Rhinoceros' can not help but ease your worries away as a hazy mist of chirpy beats ooze throughout combined intoxicatingly with Nick Portnell's bittersweet vocals which somehow manage to sound joyful, disheartened and world weary all at the same time.
Coley Park isn't all about sunshine and happiness though. 'Ghosts In The Sun' bewitches you from the first beat as sorrowful lyrics mesmerizingly embrace a storytelling role that is both unnerving and yet beautiful, accompanied as has come to be expected by Coley Park's peculiarly unique touch which this time takes the form of a wall of distortion that pierces the song.
Engagingly captivating, Rhinoceros is unlike anything else you will hear this year. Light the campfires and embrace the album for a summer sing along.