Restless Bay Area songwriter
Sonny Smith formed his ramshackle collective
Sonny & the Sunsets around his endless stream of songs, producing so much inventive, homespun music he went so far as to write and record 200 original songs for a conceptual art show in 2010. While a far cry from some of those high concept one-off tunes, the more refined fare of
Sonny & the Sunsets' full-length albums can sound just as ambitious, creative, and strange, with
Smith's mind always turning out a blurry whir of various characters, scenes, and sonic pictures. With fifth album
Talent Night at the Ashram,
Smith again collects some friends to fill out his home-recorded musings, this time spinning ten songs with more cinematic aspirations, each exploring different scenarios that feel like plots to tiny screenplays and bending styles on almost every song. The album begins with a
Beach Boys-esque swell of a cappella harmonies that gives way to toy synth leads and breezy chord progressions on "The Application."
Smith's production is deceptively laid-back and airy from the very start of the album. Lazy melodies and pick-up band playing give the album a loose feel that willfully obscures its musical density. Each song employs an almost completely different approach or instrumentation, the phased-out FM radio pop of "Alice Leaves for the Mountains" blending seamlessly into the
Kinks-y exotica of "Happy Carrot Health Food Store." Sounds are hidden in the corners of
Talent Night at the Ashram, with Mellotron tones, 12-string folk-rock guitar leads, and reverb-coated percussion all buried beneath
Smith's hook-heavy ruminations. The dabbling with synthesizers that began on 2013's
Antenna to the Afterworld continues here, notably on '80s-synth pop-tinged numbers like "Cheap Extensions." Even though listening closely enough on some songs reveals
Smith shouting out the changes to his band, the collision of off-the-cuff recording techniques and intricate songwriting produces another colorful chapter of
Sonny & the Sunsets' tireless and always beautiful work. [An LP version was also released.] ~ Fred Thomas