by Thom Jurek
Brooklyn's Weird Owl self-released a well-intentioned but ill-executed debut album in 2007 entitled Nuclear Psychology. The elements of the sound they drench themselves in on this date are on the margins there, and they even occasionally approach its center, but their ambitions -- musically and in the recording studio -- swamp the actual intent. On Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed, the band's Tee Pee debut, this quintet scale back the pretentious height-gazing of their freshman effort and, in the process, get it right. These cats love stoner rock: from the 13th Floor Elevators' psychedelic version of it to Crazy Horse's slow-moving, heavy yet melodic aural visions, to Southern rock's most bombastic intentions. They love its modern incarnations as well, from Black … » Read more