Couch Jackets is a progressive psych rock band from Arkansas. Their new album, Go To Bed, drops today.
Even though they’re tagged as progressive psych rock, the band’s sound encloses tangs of ’70s pop and modicums of country, along with the aforementioned progressive neo-psychedelic ingredient. Or put it like this: “Couch Jackets sounds like an alligator’s eating us.” That’s how the band describes their sound.
Whatever adjectives you use to describe their music, the one thing everyone agrees on is its not run-of-the-mill, conformist, pre-approved, or regular. In fact, it’s sui generis and off the chain excellent.
The four carbon-based units making up Couch Jackets are: Ben Eslick (vocals, bass), Brennan Leeds (vocals, guitar), Hunter Law (drums), and Harry Glaeser (keyboards).
Go To Bed encompasses nine tracks. The best tracks on the album include “Pillos N Rillos,” a radical psychedelic number combining flavors from Pink Floyd and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with influences from fusion jazz.
“Elephant Tusk” opens with a Cleopatra-entering-Rome feel and then flows into a dreamy, whirring kaleidoscopic tune with coruscating vocals and shimmering harmonics. My description comes across as random and contradictory, but the music is not random or contradictory. It’s superb.
“Kathy Was All Woman” is vaguely reminiscent of Pink Floyd covering Rush accompanied by Liberace on piano. “Hit The Sack” is short and oh, so sweet. This might be my favorite track on the album because of its shushing beauty.
The last track, “Oh Opossum, My Opossum,” is a tripartite sonic confection composed of alt rock lounge music flavored with psychedelic jazz and filaments of new wave synth-pop. Simply put, it’s intoxicating.
Go To Bed is elusively familiar on one level, devout on another level, and avant-garde on an additional level. It’s subtle, flamboyant, and articulate. In other words, it’s one of those albums you have to listen to simply because it’s worth listening to.
Randy Radic is a Left Coast author and writer. Author of numerous true crime books written under the pen-name of John Lee Brook. Former music contributor at Huff Post.
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