Sand Pebbles - Eastern Terrace

  by Andrew Carver

published: 24 / 7 / 2002

Label: Camera Obscura
Format: CD

intro

Eclectic debut album from Australian psychedelic band that also crosses into alternative country, soundtrack music, pop, and soul

The Sand Pebbles are an Australian psychedelic band with a low key, moody approach that inhabits the nexus of alternative country, soundtrack music and pop, and which touches upon soul (particularly in the falsetto vocals of singer Andrew Tanner). 'My Sensation' is a leisurely psych-pop stroll with a sheen of distorted string synthesiser and Tanner’s “castrato-stylee” singing (his own words, the liner notes includes commentary from the three regular members for each track). The band describes 'Charmed' as a “Yo La Tengo inspired experiment,” and its chiming notes, fuzzy bursts and cymbal-tapping could certainly be switched with some of the tracks off YLT’s 'I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One' without anyone being the wiser. There’s a similar sonic influence on 'Moving Too Fast', which appears in two versions, the first of which starts with a gritty guitar riff, and 'The Big V', which features some wordless warbling background vocals. 'The Sundowner' is an instrumental, starting low key, and reaching a crescendo over its eight minutes. Further afield, 'One Time At Sundown' could be the backing track to a Portishead song, and 'Dirty' veers closer to alternative country — it wouldn’t be out of place on the Orange Humble Band’s latest. Lastly, there’s an okay cover of Julian Cope’s 'Out of My Mind on Dope and Speed'. But this isn’t your pupil-dilating freak out psych — it’s more of a Sunday morning album, and a good one too. If 'Eastern Terraces' has any drawback, it’s that it seems more like a compilation than a cohesive album; a listen gives the impression (indirectly confirmed by the liner notes) that the album is made up of bits and pieces from the band’s career. It’s a good introduction to a band that will hopefully release a more structured album soon.

Track Listing:-