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Beachwood Sparks: The Tarnished Gold

Sub Pop

It’s the odd act that gets older and slower in a beneficial way, but—on their first album in more than a decade—California’s Beachwood Sparks are just such a band. Gone is the hurry that once pepped the group’s sparkling country-psych from dreaminess to overly hyper twang, replaced by an assured wisdom that only occasionally devolves into staid grown-upisms. Finding a distinct blend between steel guitars and gentle surf-organ, a new sound emerges, a kind of ambience that dwells equally behind the noir-and-western folk of “Mollusk” and the slowly crashing night-waves of “Leave That Light On.” The overtly theme-song-like Beach Boys/“Do It Again” vibes of “Sparks Fly Again” are maybe a bit much, but they’re not uwelcome. There’s mariachi (“No Queremos Oro”), genuine No Depression guitar squiggles (“Earl Jean”) and—titular tarnishing notwithstanding—a whole lot of shine.