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Loons get loose

Local retro rock-rollers soundtrack your next head-trip

Kicking off the head-trip that is the LoonsInside Outside Your Mind, “Siren City” engages with its hypnotic riff and upbeat melody, cruising comfortably detached from the surrounding pandemonium. Snapping at its heels is “Moon and Tide,” which surfs a wave of swishing harmonies and Spanish guitars that propel one into orbit. Then the title track, with its staccato riff, mantra-chanting, and foot-stomping chorus, provides a psychedelic anthem.

A musical departure, with its acoustic folk guitar sounds, “Silence” finds singer Mike Stax delivering a mournful, haunting ballad that, along with “Moon and Tide,” would sit comfortably on Love’s Forever Changes.

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The music is subtle when it needs to be — violin and cello make an appearance on “Head in the Clouds” — and then on tracks such as “Cruel Grey Fog,” “I Don’t Live There Anymore,” and “My Desolation,” it’s hyper-drive psych-rock time. The Loons swing comfortably like this, as the songs have the weight to work regardless of style.

A key ingredient to the Loons recipe is teamwork. Guitarists Chris Marsteller and Marc Schroeder complement rather than compete. The harmonies of Mike and Anja Stax gel into a luscious tone. Produced at drummer Mike Kamoo’s Earthling Studios, Kamoo once again shows he knows his way around a soundboard as well as a drum kit. It’s a premium production job.

“As the Raven Flies” is flight of fantasy to the White Album, with a brief stop at “Strawberry Fields”; it may be the Loons most adventurous track to date and a standout here. This is progression, as when Stax sings on “I Don’t Live There Anymore,” “The past is an empty room.” Yes, but with their retro tendencies, one suspects that the paintings from those walls are stashed in the Loons’ garage.

  • Record: Inside Out Your Mind
  • Artist: The Loons
  • Label: Bomp! Records
  • Songs: (1) Siren City (2) Moon and Tide (3) Inside Outside Your Mind (4) Out of the Frame (5) Cruel Grey Fog (6) Silence (7) My Desolation (8) I Don’t Live There Anymore (9) Head in the Clouds (10) Transparent Eyes (11) As the Raven Flies
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Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Kicking off the head-trip that is the LoonsInside Outside Your Mind, “Siren City” engages with its hypnotic riff and upbeat melody, cruising comfortably detached from the surrounding pandemonium. Snapping at its heels is “Moon and Tide,” which surfs a wave of swishing harmonies and Spanish guitars that propel one into orbit. Then the title track, with its staccato riff, mantra-chanting, and foot-stomping chorus, provides a psychedelic anthem.

A musical departure, with its acoustic folk guitar sounds, “Silence” finds singer Mike Stax delivering a mournful, haunting ballad that, along with “Moon and Tide,” would sit comfortably on Love’s Forever Changes.

Sponsored
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The music is subtle when it needs to be — violin and cello make an appearance on “Head in the Clouds” — and then on tracks such as “Cruel Grey Fog,” “I Don’t Live There Anymore,” and “My Desolation,” it’s hyper-drive psych-rock time. The Loons swing comfortably like this, as the songs have the weight to work regardless of style.

A key ingredient to the Loons recipe is teamwork. Guitarists Chris Marsteller and Marc Schroeder complement rather than compete. The harmonies of Mike and Anja Stax gel into a luscious tone. Produced at drummer Mike Kamoo’s Earthling Studios, Kamoo once again shows he knows his way around a soundboard as well as a drum kit. It’s a premium production job.

“As the Raven Flies” is flight of fantasy to the White Album, with a brief stop at “Strawberry Fields”; it may be the Loons most adventurous track to date and a standout here. This is progression, as when Stax sings on “I Don’t Live There Anymore,” “The past is an empty room.” Yes, but with their retro tendencies, one suspects that the paintings from those walls are stashed in the Loons’ garage.

  • Record: Inside Out Your Mind
  • Artist: The Loons
  • Label: Bomp! Records
  • Songs: (1) Siren City (2) Moon and Tide (3) Inside Outside Your Mind (4) Out of the Frame (5) Cruel Grey Fog (6) Silence (7) My Desolation (8) I Don’t Live There Anymore (9) Head in the Clouds (10) Transparent Eyes (11) As the Raven Flies
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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