ZapTown

Setting Sun
Fantasurreal
Young Love Records
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Links:
Setting Sun: http://www.settingsun.cc/
Young Love Records: http://www.youngloverecords.com/

Somewhere between The B-52s and The Zombies’ Odyssey and Oracle lie the song “Driving.” The only difference to this road trip masterpiece is that there is nothing silly or schlocky about this song, like a mind-meld trip to Shangri La, leaving it to be one of the best summer pop songs I have heard in years. It blends echoing analog-like technology with the AM glow of a farfisa and a great hook.

Fantasurreal is if you dreamt in bright yellows and oranges, candy apple green and sky blues. It’s the great sing-along, holding hands on the edge of the world.

“Sacrifice” is like feeling the green grass with your bare feet while soaring the cosmos with the humming Moog all transforming into a gorgeous folk violin interlude. You never want it to end.

“Into The Wire” is pure college rock fodder. “The Tree” is outer space folk balladry that you cannot help but want to fall into a state of hypnosis and take their lyrics, “Let’s pretend for a while” all that much more seriously. And the horns on “One Time Around” are exquisite. It makes “I Love Mellotrones” that much more sweeter.

You see where this is leading? Setting Sun has accomplished what every band dreams about, making an accomplished album where one song fuels the next and makes the album that much more powerful.

You can see the diversity that fills this album. Yet it’s the consistency that pushes this album forward. Never becoming something it is not, Fantasurreal gives us the hope that all of us really need as it is this year’s true summer gem.

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