Psychedelicate opens, fittingly, with the hiss of an amp with its reverb cranked to the max -- a foretaste of the reverb-drenched sound that turns this album into a fragrant cloud. Slowly a clean, muted guitar plucks away chords, while another guitar enters a jerky, simple melody. Finally, Alicia Berg’s vocals enter, singing "There’s a bag of spiders behind my ear / One falls out for every year / When it’s closing time / And the young align / They drink my tears / And everything’s fine," leaving us no doubt that we’ve entered a fairy tale. Her voice is a whisper-talk-sing that sounds as if she’s telling a story to a group of little kids (dare I say at a slumber party?). "Never Again" is one of the many extremely relaxed, repetitive and lush pop tunes, all with that certain Velvety touch, that have found their way onto this record. The bass and drums keep a steady, peaceful beat while occasional gorgeous vocal choruses rise up to add to the ecstasy.
The dark "Soldier", one of the album's highlights, is also the first song to highlight Gretchen Gonzales’s sublime lead guitar. Nothing against her playing, which is good, but the sound she gets on that thing is so goddamn amazing that she could play just about anything, or wank endlessly, and it would still sound rad; think Eno’s "Here Come The Warm Jets". In fact, it’s Gonzales’s ultra-smooth, fuzzed-out, reverb-soaked, slightly-phased guitar leads that save Psychedelicate from monotony.
Next comes the drum machine and organ driven "Everyone Else I know", the album's most upbeat song so far, though it's still hypnotic enough to make your eyes want to roll back in your head. The two songs not sung by Alicia -- I’m not sure who sings them -- lean more towards an ironic take on ‘50s bubblegum pop. "I’m Not Sad" is a classic "I just lost my guy"-style ballad sung in a sweet, raspy tone similar to a more delicate Claudia Gonson. The song wins points again with a great extended guitar solo. However, the album’s undoubted "classic" is "I Never Dreamed"; a laid-back "Sweet Jane" vibe and powerfully simple chorus make this song the perfect soundtrack for coming out of a coma in a strange place. I should also mention that Alicia’s lyrics are usually top-notch and refreshingly unexpected. Lines like "Details make it seem more important to be alive," are so simple they seem fresh.
It’s great to see that these four Detroit women have steered clear of their Nicki and the Corvettes Detroit ancestry, instead making music that may not be new, but that is undeniably beautiful and charming. Even if it’s an album that won’t amaze your friends or make your year end Best Of lists, it still has the elusive charm of that girl in the sweater vest who made eyes with you in the bread aisle in the local grocery store (or, if you'd prefer, that guy cruising past you on his old Schwinn). It’s that one brief moment that extends itself into hours of fantasy and dreams. This is how I’ve come to view Psychedelicate: while it can be perfect in specific gaps of time, at other times it may be inappropriate to bring up.
