Chris Cohen - Overgrown Path (Vinyl LP, CD)

Cohen is, according to the press release, “the child of a former music business executive and a former Broadway actress”. Nice genes if you can get ‘em. ‘Overgrown Path’ reaches into my ears with slimy exploratory tendrils pressing against such internal recognition switches labelled as “wistful tumbling sixties psych pop”, “astral drone ballad” and “melancholic cinematic genius”. This is a very fine album that often features those lush wide-screen drum fills typical of early Broadcast but it’s worth noting the gentle balmy nature of Chris’s vocals and the tender yet raw guitar chimes and bobbing bass shapes that recall the excellent Soundcarriers, especially the material on their last two long-playing outings.

These arrangements are consistently jaunty, dreamy and approachable - the multi-instrumentalist Cohen gives his tunes a ton of warmth, emotion and authenticity, elevating them way beyond mere sixties pastiche and this album is a fully-formed melodic gem bristling with numerous quality touches. What else would you expect from such a pro as Cohen who has contributed his considerable talents to Deerhoof, The Curtains, Cryptacize and Natural Dreamers? Even the notoriously choosy Business Lady has just rammed one of these into her wheezing greedbox and says this is up there with the best Cryptacize and Curtains material.