Cosmic Coasts
Dreams of the Coast, the new album from Myrtle Beach musician Grant Nesmith, is a dreamy slice of guitar-driven psych-country. Each track portrays a new influence Nesmith draws from: folk, bluegrass, psychedelia, pop. There’s a little bit of each thrown in the concoction, but every song feels a little new.
Take the LP’s intro, “Never Die,” for example. The chord vamp that kicks things off is almost a Velvet Underground riff, before the song takes off into a fuzzed-out alt-country verse and chorus. Guitarist Sadler Vaden’s presence is felt on the song’s sharp and fast hook.
The title track is more country than cosmic, but Nesmith’s reverb-drenched vocals assure the song doesn’t touch the ground. Like most of the LP, “Dreams of the Coast” is romantic. It’s a traveling song where the dirt road leads to salt water.
Some songs, like “Kaleidoscope” and “Souvenir,” drive home Nesmith’s love for soft rock. Both tunes completely break from the alt-country stylings surrounding them, focusing on piano and pop melodies. Nesmith continues to push away from his own formula on the space rocker “Untitled” and the ’80s-influenced “Mountaintop.”
Dreams of the Coast comes full circle in the final two tracks. “Haunt” pulls the sound back to its cosmic country roots. The eight-minute odyssey “Such a Crime” closes the LP with a string of reversed sound effects, lap steel guitar playing, surreal lyrics and big instrumental sections. It wouldn’t be a psychedelic epic without big instrumental sections.
The full LP will be available on bandcamp.com Feb. 5.
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