Psychedelic. Permaculture-farming. Surf-cultists. These are just a few of the self-described terms that Babe Rainbow uses to self-identify, and they are a perfect encapsulation of their sun-soaked, indie-psych sound. The quartet is here with their latest EP, Fresh As A Head of Lettuce, a four-song offering that figuratively surfs the far reaches of your mind with otherworldly textures – like a self-actualizing acid trip without any of the mind-altering anxiety.
In case you missed it, we’ve already featured the opening track “Super Ego” in a previous write up (that you can read here), and for good reason… The song is laced with whistle-tone synths that glide through your speakers and into your mind like a sweet and salty sea breeze. Warped vocal textures help you escape the boring realities of your life while the tasteful bassline bobs and weaves in a way that’s impossible not to inspire bodily movement.
Follow up track “Sunshine” shows the band’s ability to write a feel-good summery bop with its beachy melodies and tasteful, in-the-pocket guitar crunch. It’s tough to follow up a catchy banger like “Super Ego,” but “Sunshine” is the song to do it, keeping the summery momentum high and useless worries for insignificant problems low. “Paradise Garage” reminds me instrumentally of a song that could be on the Sonic 2 OST – this is undoubtedly a compliment (as weird as the comparison may be), as these are the kinds of songs that can inexplicably grind their way into your head and root themselves like a sonic (pun intended) time warp back to a mindset of better days.
The bassline is killer, the energy is undeniable, and the delivery here is silky-smooth. These guys don’t let anything bother them and “Paradise Garage” is aural evidence of their carefree approach to life. Closing track “Loading Quicksilver With Pitchfork” finds the band at their most jammy, finding a happy medium between “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and something off the latest Parquet Courts album. The layers upon layers of tasty instrumentals here seem never ending and highlight the fact that this band is more than just a sand-encrusted hook factory… Not that there would be anything wrong with that.
You can listen to Fresh As A Head Of Lettuce now via Spotify and Apple Music. Check out their other stuff through their Bandcamp page. Be sure to preview what’s in store via the YouTube embed of single “Sunshine” below.