Ganglians - Still Living (CD)

Ganglians are back! This time with what has to be their most radio friendly offering to date. That's not to say that they've lost their garagey charm or anything, but this album is totally accessible from beginning to end. If you've not heard these guys before I guess the best way to describe them would be that they're like the Beach Boys put through a '90s slacker rock filter. There's the obligatory '60s reverb that every garage band must use right now, but beneath that there's shambling grooves, and beneath those there's melodies that will stay in your head for days at a time. The production this time around does seem more polished than on their previous outings, though; the tones have been honed to perfection and the mix is very sensitive so you can hear everything that's going on. The pacing is slow throughout but it just lets the beautiful tunes really breathe, and within a few minutes we get to the excellently catchy 'Evil Weave' followed straight up by the mega-uplifting and epic album highlight 'Sleep' and it's clear this disc won't disappoint. I mean, granted, I do love my slacker rock, but with that love comes fussiness, and on tracks like this these guys tick all my boxes and bob straight past my defences. The pace of this whole record is very slow which might be offputting to some garage fans after something a bit more peppy, but the songs aren't depressing and overall it's got the feeling of monged out beach music for lazy summer afternoons. Shame the summer's all but over really.