Slacks, Terrestrial

A bit of a grower, actually. On a first listen, Slacks’ Terrestrial sounded like pretty generic Neil Young-circa-“Down By The River”-inspired instrumentals (with a couple of vocal tracks popping up — interesting formal gambit, that, being a mostly instrumental band with a couple vocal songs). I’m not sure that additional listens revealed more per se, but what did come across was a stylistic variety from song to song (while retaining an overall coherency through the seven-song EP) and the songs becoming more memorable and pleasant to return to with each listen. There’s hints of Calexico in here, as well, in the lyricism of some of the guitar lines, although they’re much more likely to cling to the rock than those guys are. If you’re looking for something with lyrical guitar melodies and a mix of wistfulness and soaring rock to play on your car stereo while driving alone on lonely backroads, this should fit your needs nicely. If the concepts “Neil Young” or “soaring guitar solos” give you hives, however, look elsewhere.