If
Cheval Sombre's debut album has a classically hazed and drifting flow that suggests
Spacemen 3 more than once, the fact that
Sonic Boom helped record the album demonstrates that it's a debt
Sombre is more than happy to acknowledge.
Boom plays a slew of the instruments (along with guests and fellow drone/psych spirits
Dean & Britta), but what
Sombre brings to his work is a nice twist on the usual expectation that anything following in the vein of the Rugby psych legends would be brain-melting feedback.
Sombre instead prefers the gentler, contemplative side of things, his vocals a soft whispered croon, as shown right from the start with "It's a Shame." As a result, his album feels much more of a piece with
Mazzy Star's hushed dramatics and, perhaps inevitably,
Sonic Boom's own work, "I Sleep" in particular sounding like it should be a full-on early Spectrum outtake.
Sombre's sources of inspiration come from more than just that, however -- three songs are covers, two being traditionals and the third, "Hyacinth House," being a lesser-known song by
the Doors given a lovely, stately rendition. The feeling of the album is of a piece throughout, but where lack of variety sometimes makes a collection of songs a drag, the sonic and creative consistency throughout
Cheval Sombre sets its own lovely mood -- the gentle changes between quicker numbers like "Julie Don't Go Down" and "I Found It Not So" and the calmer "I Get Around" (not a cover!) create their own gentle logic. ~ Ned Raggett