The moment is upon us, the time is now. The new Wet Hair is finally here! This is their fourth full-length and their second put out by De Stijl, the first being their last album In Vogue Spirit. With each release I’ve noticed that Night People CEO, Iowa City local, and Wet Hair front man Shawn Reed and his crew refine their skills more and more. On In Vogue Spirit the duo of Reed and Ryan Garbes were joined by the likes of Matt Fenner. With Spill Into Atmosphere Justin Thye replaces Fenner and begins a new era for the band. And this new era is indeed one more refined. As they continue their progression into further indie typicality and pop attitude, the band sounds tighter and cleaner than ever in their execution. That makes this LP more accessible than any of its precursors.
I don’t want you to walk away from this review and think that Wet Hair has lost their touch. Reed’s flat reverberating monotone continues to pervade these seven tracks that surprisingly gift you with around forty minutes of music. His synth also continues to lead the way and probably packs the greatest pop punch. I must say, however, that the atmospherics of the band’s total sound is fuzzy enough and still consistently ill-defined that it maintains that delusional and hypnotic quality that their brand of former psych releases delivered. The songs are still hanging loose and flow freely enough without decipherable verses and refrains that we won’t ever hear this go mainstream. The album art certainly won’t invite any accusations of selling out either. Apparently it took Reed about two weeks to put the art together. It has the look you might expect from the brains behind Night People. It’s even got a newspaper foldout insert that carries on the theme. Also, you get a download code so you can play this wherever and whenever. This arrived just in time for summer, but you still have some time left before the season is gone to pick up a satisfying accompaniment to the sunshine.
