The Growlers – ‘Not.Psych!’

Orange County’s flashback freaks may be stuck in the past, but the seven-song ‘Not.Psych!’ comes spiralling out of the same timewarp as Tame Impala

If a crate-digging mate played you The Growlers’ latest EP and said it was the work of a long-lost gang of groovy longhairs from Topanga Canyon in California circa 1969, you’d be forgiven for being fooled. Orange County’s flashback freaks may be stuck in the past, but the seven-song ‘Not.Psych!’ comes spiralling out of the same timewarp as Tame Impala – the swaying ‘Tell It How It Is’ is more red wine than shrooms, and ‘Change In Your Veins’ is a perfect example of garage-slanted commune pop. ‘Humdrum Blues’ lets the side down with dated stereotypes about a lady desperate for “a ring on her pretty little hand” but the hazy shake of ‘Nobody Owns You’ is so authentic you can almost smell the patchouli oil. The hippies done good.

Leonie Cooper