In 2012, the decades-running Southern rock act
Drivin' n' Cryin' announced plans to release four separate EPs over a 12-month period rather than offer up a single new full-length. These EPs, released on the band's own New! Records imprint, would focus on one aspect of the group's sound per release, with the first chapter,
Songs from the Laundromat, drenched in deep-fried Southern boogie rock and
Songs About Cars, Space and the Ramones exploring punk influences. Third EP
Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock follows with religious reworkings of the early garage and '60s psych sound. Beginning with the loving homage to the genre "The Little Record Store Just Around the Corner," the band rides a
Seeds/
Count Five-inspired riff and rumble while vocalist/songwriter
Kevin Kinney sings about finding psychedelic records in the welcoming arms of the local record shop. Throughout the brief six tracks, the band channels the third-eye-opened trips of
the 13th Floor Elevators on the poetic "Sometimes the Rain (Is Just the Rain)" and gentle sunshiny
Beatles and
Byrds-isms on "Upside Down Round and Round," and even gets into some of
Hawkwind's dark biker rock energy in places. While the instrumental title track drags the short-lived collection down a little bit, the majority of
Songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock smack with the excitement and clarity of the two EPs that preceded it. From the
Iggy-esque yelps to the
Dukes of the Stratosphear-caliber re-envisioning of the golden era of psychedelic sounds,
Drivin' n' Cryin' display a detailed knowledge for the music they pay tribute to here, as well as a profound love. ~ Fred Thomas