Not Carl Barat’s Jackals, but a psych-rock band hailing from Edinburgh, The Jackals describe themselves as making ‘cosmic rock ‘n’ roll’. There’s certainly a soft-focus shimmer around ‘Eyes Awaken’, which melds country, indie and shoegaze effectively, and it sets the overall tone for the album as a whole. It may not be nearly as far out as all that – and the truth is, that’s no bad thing.
The Jackals trade in tightly-penned and neatly-arranged tunes with a mellow-jello swing – ‘Raspberry Moon’ floats by in a Byrdsian jangle, and it’s more about indie with a sunny 60s pop slant and a soft-focus filter than spaced-out rock trippery. ‘Ghost Soul Traffic’ is ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ for the, er, 60s all over again, and ‘People’ creates a perfect Kodachrome hue in musical form. Which I suppose makes the retro leanings of ‘People’ an aural Instagram…
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