From their beginnings, New Zealand indie-psych unit
Ghost Wave took considerable influence from the classic college rock bands of the late-'80s and early-'90s Flying Nun roster. Their debut full-length brings that influence full circle, both in its release on Flying Nun and their collaboration on the mixing and recording of the album with Thomas Bell, member of genre-defining kiwi pop band
the Clean. While the tunes on
Ages definitely owe part of their makeup to the minimal, melancholic pop of acts like
the Clean and
the Verlaines, or the airy vocal delivery of
the Chills on tracks like "Country Rider," theirs is a far more psychedelic and expansive approach to pop than the often ramshackle shuffle of their Flying Nun predecessors. While there are still heaps of jangly guitar and the bittersweet melodic sensibility that defines the kiwi pop sound on three-minute tracks like "Here She Comes" and "Bootlegs," these songs are touched with swirling fractals of buzzing lead guitars that come even more into focus on lengthy one-chord jams like "Arkestra." In their more stretched-out selections,
Ghost Wave meshes the pop framework of their Flying Nun role models with motorized Krautrock grooves, touches of dub echo, and blasts of sneery vocals and guitars from eras of British rock including the mid-'60s British Invasion and the early-'90s Manchester scene that gave birth to
the Stone Roses. The album succeeds most when all the different colors come together in concise chunks of brilliance like in "Teenage Jesus." This song stands out with equal parts psyched-out production, guitar-heavy hooks, and a post-
Velvet Underground look at minimal pop, all rooted down with an especially locked-in groove. Maintaining momentum with ruggedly catchy pop tunes sticking out among the more spaced-out garage psych explorations,
Ages takes its place in the storied Flying Nun lineage without sounding solely like a replica of previous chapters. ~ Fred Thomas