Maybe it’s unfair to compare a contemporary artist to one of the greatest bands ever, but Alex Bleeker & the Freaks almost seem to ask for it. Bleeker, who also plays bass and sings in Real Estate, is an avowed and passionate Deadhead, and the Freaks summon the Dead’s medium tempos, casual eclecticism and tumbling guitar lines. The rhythm guitar maps out subtle Weir-ish counter-intuitive accents, and the basslines roam and reach in big confident moves, with keyboard and organ finding room between everything else to unfurl blankets of color without smothering. The playing is a pleasure—mellow but confident. “Sealong Hair” is like a sleepy, hippie samba. A gentle New Orleans feel slides into “California.” The record was recorded in a hilltop studio overlooking the California coast, and some of that breezy West Coast vibe comes through. Lyrically, Bleeker has yet to find his Robert Hunter-level poetic inspiration, and some of these songs, like the title track and “The Wind,” seem a little over-rhymed, with the words lacking the easygoing skill demonstrated in the music. When not conjuring the Dead or John Phillips, many of these tracks bring to mind Vetiver, a band that’s been exploring a similar laid-back zone.