It goes without saying that Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound owe a lot of their sound to late 60’s and early 70’s space rock. As such I’m sure that if I played this record to a veteran they would delight in telling me that it sounds just like this or that Hawkwind track and that they “didn’t know bands were still making music like this”. I don’t even like the records that they tell me are being ripped off. In the past I felt like this was a slight on my enthusiasm for a modern band and despite not being able to articulate why, I didn’t think they were quite right. Today I feel a little more able to explain myself.

Bands like Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound have not only absorbed those influences to the point that they can hold their head in such company; they have also absorbed a broad array of sounds from the 80’s and 90’s. Alongside R.E.M I can hear echoes of the Meat Puppets, the intonations of Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins) in some of the backing vocals and even Screaming Trees on tracks like ‘Drunken Leaves’.

It’s also of note that experiencing a band play this kind of music in their prime with this much vigour is a timeless experience. Just knowing that they’re out there feels like a kick on your behalf in the face of bland conformism and the limp strut of passing fashions. Not having listened to Assemble Head before I can’t say how this fits into their development as a band, but I get the feeling that this is the sound of them finding their feet.