SHEEN

“I’m on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen,” the Hollywood maverick exclaimed during one of his less lucid moments. “It’s not available because if you try it you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”

More likely fuelled by mind-numbingly strong weed than the cocaine-jack-and-hookers cocktail that’s driving their namesake into oblivion, London-based six-piece Sheen deliver lusciously understated psych-pop reminiscent of Pink Floyd in their mega-selling ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ heyday.

A slow burner that builds to an epic crescendo, recent track “Hey” is a sublime slice of lysergic space-rock. Part Cat Power and part Warpaint, it’s laidback pop diffused through a dark, acidic lens. Fusing icy vocals to Dave Gilmour-esque guitars, it takes the listener on a rarely explored journey from prog to indie-psych.

Cinematic yet understated, “Hey” drags its way through stoner oblivion before emerging, Phoenix-like, in a wave of eardrum-melting fuzz. A lullaby for the new shoegaze generation, it’s awash with the kind of brooding melancholy that made underground stars of Tamaryn and EMA. God knows what Charlie makes of it.

Words by Toby Rogers

Tipped by Nick Burman from Record-Play