San Francisco’s Sic Alps drop two releases this week: a new, 2-song single (L. Mansion) and a double-LP reissue (A Long Way Around to a Shortcut).  L. Mansion is the band’s first recording as a 3-piece, with Ty Segall on drums, and it’s also their first for Slumberland.  Would you be prepared to answer the following essay question?  Please elaborate on the existence and nature of the “Slumberland Sound.”  If so, I’d wager that you can already predict how Sic Alps have evolved over the year that passed between these recordings. 

Early Sic Alps is a silly phrase, considering that the band is only a few years old.  That said, it has a definite meaning–it conjures up a sound that reaches for Beach Boys and comes out Royal Trux.  A Long Way Around to a Shortcut sounds like the Zombies after a hit of nitrus, or Sha Na Na on sizzurp.  The harmonies are almost there, the melodies moving along, and then everything takes a sudden lurch off-kilter.  On Long Way Around, Sic Alps fell somewhere within the distance triangulated by artists like Meth Teeth (at their swinging rowdiest), Fluffy Lumbers (at their melodic twee-est), and Women (at their most precisely harmonized and treble-y).  But in a move foreshadowed by recent records from Thee Ohsees, Sic Alps use L. Mansion as a point of departure, exchanging their atonalities and discordance for a more accessible, or at least more predictable, style.  This is likely due at least in part to the live and studio contributions of new member Ty Segall, who, under his own name, churns out a steady supply of Coachwhips-style lo-fi garage bangers.

Is the presence of a new drummer and (perhaps) bigger recording budget sufficient to explain the newfound musical clarity on L. Mansion?  The new songs on the 7″ are great: tight, catchy, and upbeat, neatly contained pop songs.  The production suits the sound, reasonably crisp but mildly reverb-washed, and the band goes so far as to cover Donovan on the B-Side.  But I’m sure, on some level, that Sic Alps know they’ve crafted a “Slumberland release” with this single.  It’s almost as though, consciously or not, they’ve  been processed through a motown-style hitmaking machine (think, of late, similar efforts from Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, caUSE co-MOTION, and Crystal Stilts). 

Regardless, it’s hard to be too cynical here.  Sic Alps are developing a wildly infectuous new style, proof being found in the tracks below.  If nothing else, their change in direction supplies yet another reason to keep an eye out for the next LP.

1. L. MansionL. Mansion
2. Superlungs (My Supergirl)Superlungs (My Supergirl)
3. Dr. Bag and the Pomade Nature GiantsDr. Bag and the Pomade Nature Giants
4. Bells with Tremelo and DestortionBells with Tremelo and Destortion