by Andrew Leahey
Speck Mountain's debut batch of hazy psych pop calls to mind several mainstays of the psychedelic genre, from Mazzy Star (to whom the band is frequently -- although not unreasonably -- linked) to a very mind-addled Spacemen 3. Replete with organ drones and leisurely plucked guitar, Summer Above brews up something appropriately lush and expansive, but the record's biggest asset isn't its similarity to those psychedelic predecessors. It's the emphasis on space. Songs are given room to breathe, to slowly morph and echo inside the area that's been carved for them. Reverb functions like its own instrument here, coating Marie-Claire Balabanian's voice with eerie beauty and allowing Karl Briedrick's chiming guitar to drift lazily into the ether. ...