Casting Shadows

Album Review

With their feet planted in the '60s and their heads swimming in the clouds, the Black Hollies offer up a second batch of vintage rock & roll with Casting Shadows. These ten tracks will sound familiar to anyone who picked up the band's Crimson Reflections debut — or, for that matter, anyone familiar with the gritty psychedelia of the Seeds, the Standells, or any act that might've played the Electric Circus in 1968. And while fuzzy guitar riffs and vintage tube amps have become customary accessories for many 21st century bands, the Black Hollies sound tighter, grittier, and altogether trippier than most of their retro-minded peers. Casting Shadows doesn't just borrow from the counterculture era — it lives it, from the "holy moly, I'm so stoned!" cover art to the smart packaging (which borrows its ideas from old vinyl records) to the songs themselves. Tracks like "Bruised Tangerines," "Hamilton Park Ballerina," and "The Autumn Chateau" are every bit as kaleidoscopic as their titles suggest, with guitar tremolos and Farfisa organs sharing space alongside the occasional sitar and harmonica. If Casting Shadows aims to be the musical equivalent of an acid trip, then frontman Justin Angelo Morey is the group's Timothy Leary, leading his three bandmates through blues rave-ups ("That Little Girl"), swampy rock ("Running Through Your Mind," a close relative to Them's "Baby, Please Don't Go"), and all the psychedelic stops in between. Of course, not everyone will love the Black Hollies' dedication to an era that is possibly older than the band members themselves, and Casting Shadows could very well be criticized as lacking any sort of forward-thinking, modern sensibility. But that's likely the point, and the Black Hollies make a strong case of remaining stuck in the past.